


Memory

by katydid



Category: Saiyuki, Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: Angst, Family, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-03
Updated: 2012-04-08
Packaged: 2017-11-02 23:30:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/374585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katydid/pseuds/katydid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With his limiter off, Goku starts to remember. Remember his time with Konzen, Tenpou, and Kenren, back in heaven. Remember every single second of the five hundred years after that. This might not make him any more sane.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Saiyuki, Saiyuki owns me!
> 
> Note: This story will ultimately contain spoilers for Saiyuki Gaiden. Some knowledge of Goku's backstory and what Kenren looks like is useful.

Gojyo was more than halfway resigned to the fact that he was dead. His left leg was broken, his shoulder was dislocated, his entire body was covered in bruises and the odd burn mark, and perhaps more to the point, he hadn't stood a chance against the Seiten Taisei at full strength in the first place. With one leg broken he hadn't tried to run. But he decided that even without a weapon he would at least _bite_ the evil bastard once before he got his throat ripped out. He thought he might have nipped him in the arm (oh, the irony) before being head-butted into unconsciousness, which was a small comfort. If he was going to be eaten by a crazed yokai, he wanted to at least get a little of his own back.

It was a surprise to open his eyes again, and not only because for a second he thought he had four arms. But relief at being alive didn't last long past the realization that he was being dragged into a cave by the Seiten Taisei, probably as a late night snack. The yokai formerly known as Goku was tugging him along by his unbroken leg, small mercy, and had so far only banged his head into a rock twice. There was a wetness on his forehead, his vision kept blurring and multiplying, and dimly he was afraid for Hakkai.

If it had been Sanzo who had been ill, Gojyo wouldn't have been nearly as worried. To be frank, His Holiness was always being poisoned or stabbed or dropped off cliffs, and so many yokai had tried to take bites out of him it was a wonder he didn't look like a piece of swiss cheese, yet he was still alive. Yes, Sanzo was your standard damsel in distress. But Hakkai was made of sterner stuff, so when he went pale and still while bleeding whole pints out of his stomach, Gojyo became very worried.

That was why he'd volunteered to stay behind and deal with the Seiten Taisei, and that was probably why instead of calling him an "idiot" Sanzo had nodded sharply and thrown Hakkai into the Jeep. But a rampaging Goku (after some fool of a yokai had thought he would become weaker without his diadem) was not something Sanzo could deal with right now when he was holding in Hakkai's guts, and with Hakkai looking like his vine-and-claw self there was little chance of the nearest town letting him in or agreeing to treat him unless the Great High Priest Sanzo was there to ram him down their throats. So there had really been little choice.

Gojyo hadn't intended to fight the Seiten Taisei—he wasn't stupid. He just needed to hold him off until Sanzo and Hakkai got away. In the middle of the desert there were few travelers so Gojyo hadn't needed to stop psycho-Goku from attacking anyone. As soon as the monk was off safely he'd simply run like hell. He hadn't wanted a fight—it was the Seiten Taisei who had decided to start hunting him.

And had caught him. Gojyo had an image of cats playing with their food flash through his mind. It was enough to make him weakly attempt to break free, but he might as well have been trying to break the grip of a tornado.

Then they were inside the cave. It was dark and damp and about as exciting as most caves Gojyo had ever seen. There was a trickle that could almost be called a stream and some of those pointy things that he never could remember which were stalactites and which were stalagmites. But the coolness was a bit of a relief after the hot sand, and at least the wet ground meant that psycho-Goku would have more trouble starting a fire if he intended to cook Gojyo before eating him. Always look on the bright side of life, that was Gojyo's philosophy.

At the moment the brightest thing in his life were the white fireworks behind his eyes. He blinked, and his vision cleared again. Psycho-Goku with his creepy slanty gold eyes was looming over him, reaching down clawed hands. Instinctively, Gojyo threw up his one working arm to bat the hands away. The Seiten Taisei kicked him sharply in the stomach in order to put an end to that meager resistance, and then grabbed his broken leg.

The pain that followed was immense, and Gojyo screamed because there was no one around to call him a wimp anyway. But as red ants crawled out from behind his eyes before the world spiraled down into black, the last thing he was aware of was that, to his surprise, the Seiten Taisei had set his leg straight.

* * *

Consciousness came back to Gojyo like a boyfriend returning before he'd had time to get out of the girl's house. The first thing he was aware of was that his forehead was wet. When he raised a shaky hand to his face, it appeared that it wasn't blood but pieces of wet cloth lying all over his face. There was something stuffed under his head as well.

He waited for the pain to hit him, and it didn't. So he forced himself to open his eyes. Bright sunlight was streaming in through the entrance of the cave, but Gojyo was lying far enough back that the back of the cave that it was still dim. The ground wasn't as hard as it could have been, because he was lying in a puddle of mud. Both arms were now working, meaning someone had popped his shoulder back in its socket. He tried one leg, then with unwarranted optimism the other, but his broken leg wouldn't respond at all. He forced himself to sit up a little just to make sure that he still had a leg, but it was definitely attached, just numb.

His slow attempts to sit up uncovered two revelations: he didn't hurt nearly as much as he should, and it was very hard to move his body. Some paralysis poison? Odd, the Seiten Taisei didn't seem like the type to not want his prey to squirm.

His movement caused a few cloth rags to fall off his face. He picked one up. Judging from the blood on it, the cloth had been covering his injuries, like a bandage made by someone who didn't realize that bandages should be tied around a cut instead of just plopped on top. The brown cloth had also been soaked in something sticky and green.

This looked like a piece of his shirt. That would explain why his chest was bare, sans a few miscellaneous pieces stuck to his back. Hakkai returned Gojyo's jacket to him pristine clean from bloodstains, claw marks, and dirt of all colors, but he didn't think even the genius housemaker would be able to save it this time.

Gods, but he hoped Hakkai was still alive.

When sitting up failed, he managed to lift his head a bit to take a look around the cave. His ability to turn his head was limited but he could see sunlight streaming in from the wide entrance straight ahead. If only he could get to his feet, and find something to use as a walking stick, this might be a great time to make a run for it, before his favorite crazed yokai made a reappearance.

Speak of the yokai, and he appeared. The Seiten Taisei ambled through the cave opening dragging an ugly looked horse with a hump on its back. He quickly set about skinning it with more skill than Goku had ever demonstrated. It was great for Gojyo to know that he wasn't on the menu tonight, not so encouraging to see how easily the Seiten Taisei managed to start a fire—just by snapping his fingers. Since when could Goku do that?

Then, of course, he was strolling over to Gojyo. The half-yokai tested the limits of his strength and found that his reaction times were sluggish, but if he waited until the Seiten Taisei got close then he would probably be able to get in at least one elbow to the face before his impending death. Gojyo liked the idea of going down fighting. Admittedly, the fact that he'd be hitting something that still at least looked like Goku removed a considerable amount of the fun of being vindictive.

Gojyo silently sent a prayer to the merciful goddess that if Sanzo and Hakkai somehow made it back and subdued Goku, then at least the monkey wouldn't remember killing him. His past experience with the aforementioned deity hadn't left him too impressed, but if she bore even the tiniest resemblance to her name, then surely that wasn't too much to ask?

The Seiten Taisei stopped, and dropped to his knees next to Gojyo's broken leg. Alas, this made it hard for Gojyo to elbow him without sitting up, and his magnificent but temporarily crippled body was telling him that was a definite no-go. Well, hitting the monkey wasn't that much fun when he wasn't in his right mind and wouldn't sputter with indignation. He composed his mind and offered a few prayers to the gods (most of which began with "f" and ended with "uck you").

The Seiten Taisei had his hands on Gojyo's leg. An odd tingling sensation went through the broken limb. Gojyo forced his head up again just enough to see, and there was a flow of golden sparks going from the monkey's hand to his body. Instead of increasing, the pain in his leg was fading.

It looked like the same flow of energy from the earth that had the pesky tendency to heal all of psycho-Goku's wounds when they were trying to get his damn diadem back on. But since when could Goku—the Seiten Taisei—heal anyone but himself? Equally to the point, why?

The Seiten Taisei let go of his leg, which Gojyo suddenly had full sensation in. He tried to get his legs under him so he could stand up, see if the break really was healed. The Seiten Taisei shoved him back to the ground with the strength of an earthquake, slamming Gojyo's head into the ground with a sickening crack. Then the Seiten Taisei's hands were on him again, and the pain in his head began to fade, along with various other aches and bruises expressing themselves all over his body.

When the Seiten Taisei got to his feet again, Gojyo felt invigorated. Almost ready to fight another round if he didn't know that he'd only get himself curb-stomped again. He did at least allow himself to stand up and inspect his body (clarifying that his pants were still hanging on but almost as unsalvageable as his shirt.)

The Seiten Taisei went over to the fire where the four-legged beast was roasting. He pulled off a slab of meat, then marched back to Gojyo, carrying it.

When the meat was thrust into his face, the message was clear. The Seiten Taisei didn't intend to kill him yet. He had also possibly developed an immunity to heat along with his other weird abilities at some point, because the meat was still slightly on fire yet it didn't seem to bother his hands in the slightest. Gojyo wouldn't have dared touch it himself, but arguing with the crazy yokai didn't seem like a good idea either, so he sacrificed his headband (which wasn't as clean as he would have liked) to scoop the meat up until it stopped billowing smoke.

This apparently satisfied the Seiten Taisei, who began walking back to the rest of the meal. Why? Why bother to feed him and heal him and generally not kill him?

Hesitantly, Gojyo called, "Goku?"

The other whirled around, and Gojyo was suddenly pinned by a pair of golden eyes. He took a step back, and found that his legs were shaking.

Goku was looking at him with naked _hunger_.

Gojyo had been the target of hungry eyes before—people who wanted to kill him, or fuck him, or be him. But these were different. Mostly, it reminded Gojyo of the way Goku looked at meat buns. There was a creepy thought, given that psycho-Goku had proven quite capable of trying to take a bite out of him in the past.

Just a little, the look reminded him of the way the monkey sometimes looked at Sanzo. That was an even more disturbing thought, not the least of which because Gojyo didn't like to draw any parallels between the Goku who used to be, and the monster in front of him now.

Sure, it was sugary sweet that the Seiten Taisei had healed him and all. But that didn't mean that Gojyo was going to forget who had been the one to inflict all his injuries in the first place. Or the way that same someone had been screaming with pure joy as Gojyo's leg snapped.

* * *

One brief meal later, carefully watching the Seiten Taisei in case he moved from the fire, Gojyo began to plan.

Gojyo's first priority was finding Hakkai and Sanzo, confirming that Hakkai had his guts back inside his body (oh please merciful goddess) and bringing Sanzo and his wonderful diadem-creating powers back to Goku so they could get their monkey back to normal. All of these necessitated leaving the cave.

He considered just walking past the Seiten Taisei out of the cave. Why not? The crazed yokai hadn't tried to harm him or bother him (past almost killing him in the first place). Maybe he wouldn't even notice if Gojyo just sort of meandered off.

Goku followed him with those creepy eyes as Gojyo walked past, but made no move towards him. The half-yokai placed one foot down in the outside sunlight before a hard weight came crashing into him.

When he opened his eyes, Goku was sitting on his chest. The monkey leaned close, so close that Gojyo could smell the scent of earth on his breath, and bared some when-did-they-get-so-sharp teeth, scrapping them ever so lightly across Gojyo's neck. Where he was fairly certain Hakkai had said an important blood vein was located. Yes, there were definitely days when Gojyo wished he paid more attention to what Hakkai said, instead of asking him to "please stop talking your work at the health clinic over dinner." Because right now it would have been great to remember what he first aid he was supposed to do when bleeding profusely from the neck.

Luckily, the teeth retreated without even breaking skin. His point made, the Seiten Taisei picked Gojyo bodily up (at least he wasn't dragging him this time) and deposited him back in the mud puddle that had previously served as his bed.

As usual, the monkey didn't know his own strength. Gojyo saved himself from a return to unconsciousness by making sure he got a hand under his head before he hit the ground.

So much for that idea.

* * *

Gojyo had always known that Goku ate a lot, but there was nothing to drive the point home quite like watching him eat an entire horse thing in the space of a few hours (minus Gojyo's piece) and then go out and bring in another one. Gojyo didn't even get any of that one, although he didn't have much of an appetite.

The sun was only starting to dim when Goku went out hunting for a third time. This time, Gojyo stayed put. The first time he'd been left alone he'd quite naturally made an escape attempt, because there was no way he was going to sit around waiting to be rescued—if Sanzo had to make a detour to go looking for him _again_ then he would never be allowed to live it down. (There was also the possibility that the monk wasn't coming because he had already landed himself and Hakkai in more of the trouble that following him as if he was a magnet, but Gojyo was trying not to think about that.)

Unfortunately, the hunting trip didn't take very long, his disappearance was quickly noted, and the Seiten Taisei had proven much better at tracking then plain old Goku. As in, he hadn't gotten more than half a mile before an irritated Great Sage threw a boulder at him. In retrospect, going into a desert when he'd lost all his water containers hadn't been the best move he could have made. Because sure, they were only ten minutes' drive in, but the trip became much longer when you were on foot and you had lost all your supplies. And although psycho-Goku had kindly healed his ankle and ribs after breaking them into several pieces with a giant freaking rock, Gojyo would still rather not go through that experience again. No, this time he was waiting for a better chance.

He had cause to regret that when the monkey did return.

This time, the Seiten Taisei was dragging a whole cart behind him, one that looked like it was meant to be pulled by at least two animals. It was loaded down with items: trunks, cloth, two wooden chairs and of a broken-off half of an oak table, and judging from the smell there must be food in there somewhere. There was definitely a whiff of cooked meat.

Gojyo swallowed nervously. "And where did that come from, might I ask? I was under the impression there weren't many people around." He surreptitiously examined the haul for bloodstains. He didn't see anything but didn't feel reassured. It did not seem likely that the Seiten Taisei had gotten away with this bounty unchallenged, and Gojyo didn't know how Goku would deal with slaughtering a bunch of innocent people when his sanity returned.

He was concerned enough to voluntarily come closer. The Seiten Taisei didn't seem to have any blood on his clothes either. Perhaps Gojyo could hope that this meant whoever he had encountered had enough sense to run.

Crazy-Goku was unloading the cart. Gojyo approached with great cautiousness, remembering what animals had been known to do to anyone who got close to their food, but Goku did not seem to mind, and eventually he steeled his nerve to start sorting through the cart as well. His fears aside, a brutally pragmatic part of him said he might find something useful for an escape.

He wrestled the broken table out of the cart, which promptly flopped over. Goku came over and picked up the table, then rammed it into the ground with such force that it stayed upright.

It was merely a coincidence that Gojyo started looking for something that could be used as a weapon right after that.

His own shakujou hadn't returned to his hand since psycho-Goku had snapped it in two then ground the blade to dust. Sanzo was going to be pissed once he found out that Gojyo had lost one of the temple's sacred treasures. He didn't know what had happened to Goku's staff either, just that the monkey wasn't swinging it around anymore. Maybe he'd get lucky and Goku had broken Nyoibou too: then he would only have to dodge half as many bullets before Sanzo had to reload. But no, the monkey never seemed to use his staff when in psycho-land, which meant the sacred treasure was probably lurking in limbo somewhere.

Oh, well. Gojyo had a suspicion that the majority of the bullets fired by an enraged Sanzo would always end up going in his direction, regardless of his share of the actual blame.

Gojyo found a small knife wrapped in a belt under a chair, and then a shirt, which was too plain white for his tastes but made him feel a little less naked. Feeling something hot rising from the cart, he tossed items out a little faster and found the food, which was buried in huge tin boxes towards the middle of the stack. (It made Gojyo wonder who had put the food there, because was the Seiten Taisei sane enough to understand the concept of packaging? He hadn't seen any evidence of long-term planning capability the last few times they'd met.)

The tins had kept the food hot, and it sure did smell good to someone who had a very scare sustenance after a very rough day. Not surprisingly, food attracted the monkey away from his interior decorating. Goku started piling food onto the table, which wobbled but remained upright after the Seiten Taisei gave it a very nasty look.

Something tumbled out of the haphazardly-packed cart. Gojyo leaned over to take a look.

It was a kodamo. A child's toy. Suddenly, Gojyo felt violently nauseous, and not hungry at all. He pawed through the cart, but found nothing but regular household items: a bundle of clothes, a hoe, books (including ten copies of the Farmer's Almanac), and a completely uprooted bathtub. He didn't know what he was looking for, just that he hadn't found any explanation at all.

He was alerted by a tug at his arm that an impatient Seiten Taisei was standing at his shoulder. Nothing like survival to knock you from a funk. Moving in the direction of the tug seemed like the best way not to lose an arm, and letting himself be shoved into a chair was a great way to still have unbroken legs. Goku handed him a giant fork that was probably meant for serving not eating, a badly cracked plate, and settled into the other chair, raising an eyebrow in a very un-Goku-like way. If Goku had started picking up Hakkai's mannerisms after going psycho then this confirmed a few of Gojyo's long-held theories about the correlation between cleanliness and crazy.

He didn't feel like quarrelling for food with someone who might actually try to eat his hand, so he waiting for the Seiten Taisei to begin. But this only got him an impatient look, and a wave of encouragement.

Goku, letting him eat first? Now he knew that the being in front of him was definitely not his monkey.

The food did look good (pork buns, noodles, fried rice, and thick bread) so he took the plunge. The Seiten Taisei only watched him eat, which was not quite creepy enough to put him after his appetite. Then, once he'd eaten his full, the monkey proceeded to inhale everything left, which was still the majority of the victuals. So he hadn't held back because he no longer ate normal food. Given how worried Gojyo had been about someone being eaten (hey, Goku had tried to bite off his arm once when the diadem was off) it was a bit of a relief to watch him gorge himself. Admittedly, it got a bit weird when Goku started eating the pans as well. Normally he just settled for licking them.

But dinner wasn't over with that. Goku went back to the cart and dug out something else, then almost shyly presented it to Gojyo. It was a bottle of wine.

Now there was something Gojyo could have used a few hours ago. Right now he was trying to stay clear-headed for the night to come. But then, one bottle had never been enough to make him drunk. (And even when he was acting nonaggressive, it was a bad idea to argue with Goku when he had claws. Or Hakkai when he had claws. Or Sanzo all the time.)

The monkey nodded contentedly as Gojyo threw back his head and took a long sip of the wine. Not for the first time, Gojyo wondered just how much he understood. This was different from the Seiten Taisei he knew, that simply attacked everything living in sight. And it certainly wasn't following normal Goku behavior either.

He peered into the bottle, looking at the deep red color. It was familiar. An odd thought occurred to him, and he took a sniff.

This wine was almost the exact same flavor and color as Gojyo's favorite. Goku knew full well what wine Gojyo liked as he made obnoxious comments whenever Gojyo tipped one into the shopping basket in a passing town. But Goku would also have read the label and known that this was a different, if similar smelling, variety. So which was it? Did he remember or not remember?

Goku chose that moment to pounce.

It was over very fast. Gojyo was lying on the ground—he'd never really had a chance to react—with Goku straddling him, and something hot was burning into his forehead. The monkey held his head down with one hand, and his fingers moved fast.

Then the Seiten Taisei stood up, expression radiating satisfaction, and offered Gojyo the rest of the wine.

Gasping with the aftershock of pain, Gojyo raised a hand to his forehead. He felt nothing. Why would the Seiten Taisei attack him and heal him right away? He hadn't even been doing anything that would provoke, had he?

Moving slowly, he accepting the bottle back again. This time his senses were on full alert, but with this the Seiten Taisei seemed to have completely lost interest in him. When he turned away, Gojyo spotted a box in his hand. It had a picture of a tattoo on it.

Keeping a careful eye on the Seiten Taisei (who was now going back to unpacking the cart) Gojyo made his way over to the stream. Bending over, he tried to make out his reflection.

There was something black on his forehead. It appeared to be a dot with two triangles on either side, like an eye. It didn't rub off, but then tattoos generally didn't. The only thing that made him not completely certain what had happened was that this didn't look like fresh ink. Gojyo suspected that if he walked into a tattoo parlor and tried to get this removed, he'd have trouble convincing anyone that it hadn't been there for years.

Behind him, Goku started singing. It was startling, because it was the first sound he'd made that wasn't a scream or a growl. It was also in some language Gojyo had never heard before.

* * *

As soon as the psycho-monkey fell asleep, Gojyo had his escape plan ready. It had been hard resisting sleep now that the Seiten Taisei had brought back actual blankets, piles enough to make a bed out of; in fact, he suspected that the only reason he was still on his feet after a day of running around and a few broken bones was that whatever the Seiten Taisei had done to heal him had also filled him with energy. The monkey himself dropped off to sleep as soon as the sun was completely down.

He might be pressing his luck a bit, not even waiting one day. But it wasn't only that he was worried about Goku swinging from violently crazy back to _murderously_ crazy, or that the Great Sage had had the nerve to put permanent ink on his perfect face. No, he had a bigger concern. The fact that the Seiten Taisei might have stumbled on civilization, and people, during his last trip outside did make it a lot more urgent to find Sanzo and fix this, fast.

It wasn't that he couldn't handle Goku himself, Gojyo thought as he stumbled through the dark cave, trying to remember where he'd left the bottles of water, compass, and the knife he'd set aside earlier. It was just that the great and mighty Sanzo and the Seiten Taisei clearly deserved each other. And it was someone else's turn to do the babysitting duty.

It had occurred to him that the Seiten Taisei would only follow him again, and that the yokai was a lot faster than he was. He could make it out of the desert and maybe to a town by daybreak, but it could take longer to find Sanzo and Hakkai, and what if Goku woke up in the middle of the night? He had to find a way to delay pursuit.

A way had come in the form of a long length of steel chain at the bottom of the cart. What it was doing there, Gojyo didn't know, but then he didn't know what Goku wanted with the butterfly collection or the stuffed dog either.

Thankfully, this incarnation of Goku was also a very deep sleeper, and didn't notice when his hands were chained to a stalac—pointy thing in the ground. The thought had crossed Gojyo's mind that this might not be enough, that it might be smarter idea to bash his head in while he was still unconscious (because they knew from last time that the Seiten Taisei could survive some intense wounds, and it was definitely for the greater good to put him out of commission a bit). He had to balance that against the fact that being attacked would wake Goku up, and that he didn't really want to do it.

But when he looked at Goku sleeping, curled up with the stuffed dog toy (so that was what he'd wanted it for?), that plan was straight out. It was all he could do to fight off the urge to go find an extra blanket to put over him.

Right, escape now, bedtime stories later.

He moved as quietly as he could towards the cave mouth, although Goku was such a deep sleeper that it wasn't likely to make too much difference.

As he quickly found out, it made no difference at all. Because it could not be a coincidence that the exact moment he placed a foot down outside the cave, he heard a deep growl behind him.

There were two options: freeze or run. Gojyo's preferred choice was to run, but he'd tried that last time. Let no one said that his brother had raised a slow learner.

So he turned around, very slowly.

Goku no longer looked the slightest bit cute. He was crouched on all fours, claws extended, his hair twisting around his face as if it was alive. And his eyes were wide open and glowing like golden balls of fire. Something else was glowing too—it was the melting metal hanging off his hands. Goku shook his claws, and the makeshift manacles simply flaked away.

Okay, he'd known that steel wouldn't hold Goku for long, but he'd been hoping for an extra hour, not five seconds. On the bright side at least Goku didn't seem to have been harmed despite having raised his body temperature to the heat of a smith's forge. Was that a bright side?

The Seiten Taisei raised himself fully to his feet with the grace of a mountain rising. And between the space of one blink and the next, he disappeared.

A hot gust on the back of his neck told Gojyo exactly where he'd gone. "Oh, sure, appear behind me, like no yokai has ever done that trick before," he mumbled (under his breath) as he turned around.

Goku was standing between him and the exit, glaring at him, arms crossed like Hakkai when Gojyo came home after forgetting to lock the door. It was a glare that seemed to say, "I am very sick of being woken up and sidetracked and constantly having to go looking for you," and it scared Gojyo because any sign of intelligent thought from the Seiten Taisei only made him more adrift about his current situation. Because if he was dealing with someone intelligent that wasn't Goku, then who was it?

The Seiten Taisei took a step forward, and Gojyo took a step back. He didn't want the yokai to think he was trying to run, but then he didn't want to risk that the Great Sage might still be flammable. His escape plan was trashed now anyway, so only one response left.

"I was just stepping out for a little fresh air. Going to relieve myself. You know how it is, a male-type being like yourself, right?"

The Seiten Taisei just stared.

"And I'll be going back to bed now. Don't worry about the bathroom break, I think you scared the piss out of me."

The Seiten Taisei just stared. Gojyo chose to take this as a positive sign. Back to his filthy pile of blankets it was, then. He only tripped once on his way over (damn stalacwhazits).

Except Goku didn't go back to sleep, which made it rather hard for Gojyo to do so either, still being nervous about being murdered and all. He watched the Seiten Taisei prowl around the cave, examining the smoldering ruins of the chain Gojyo had found (and the half-yokai really hoped there were no hard feelings about that, it wasn't as though Goku had really been inconvenienced.)

Then there was a high-pitched squeal, and Gojyo gave up any pretense of being asleep to sit bolt upright.

It was still very dark out. In point of fact, the only light Gojyo was able to see by was Goku's glowing eyes, which was pretty creepy now that he stopped to think about it. The Seiten Taisei didn't seem bothered by darkness at all, perhaps having the aforementioned glowing eyes helped. In the dim glint coming from that part of the cave, Gojyo could see Goku crouched over a small furry animal that looked like a rat. It had the hairless tail, anyway.

Goku looped a piece of rope around one of the thing's paws, then let go. Naturally, the rope slid off and the rodent made a squeaking run for freedom. It was easily recaptured, and the next time Goku tried a few loops, then tucked the spare bit of string under. This also unraveled with a few tugs. Goku watched placidly as the rat freed itself, then one hand shot out and he caught it again. This time, Goku tried wrapping the end of the rope over and under in a makeshift knot. It took another attempt before he realized that he needed to knot twice in order to make it stay. Finally, the rat ran in circles shrieking as Goku calmly held the other end of the rope.

Gojyo would be tempted to cheer this epic odyssey of learning, but the implications of this had not escaped him. He'd inadvertently taught the monkey how tie stuff up. Charming.

What was most interesting about this exchange was that it demonstrated that Goku—the Seiten Taisei—was not a stupid and unthinking beast, but nevertheless lacked the basic understanding of the world that one would expect anyone over the age of five to have. In other words, the killing machine was even more socially clueless than the monkey had been. But a fast learner. He understood enough to conduct an experiment, apply cause and effect, and reason out a solution. This version of the Seiten Taisei was not stupid—just very inexperienced, like a blank slate.

The bad lighting made it hard to make out an expression, but Gojyo was certain that Goku was gazing at the imprisoned rat with a distinct look of satisfaction. Then he turned his head and looked directly at Gojyo. It was a look that left no doubt that he could see in the dark, and knew he was being watched. Deliberately, he walked towards Gojyo, and held out the rat for inspection. In his other hand a long coil of thick rope.

The message was plain: cause me any more trouble and I know exactly how to deal with you. So the Seiten Taisei had also learned how to make threats.

Oh, the long way he'd come since the infantile creature who had unreasoningly tried to eat Gojyo's forearm. It was almost enough to make Gojyo feel proud, in a terrified sort of way.

The rat squeaked frantically, clearly not happy at being dangled in the air by one foot. Goku eyed it quizzically. Then he reached towards its neck with two clawed fingers.

"Don't," Gojyo said impulsively.

The Seiten Taisei raised his head to look at him with wide unblinking eyes.

"Don't. It's just a rat. We don't need to food right now, so just…let it go."

Daring to come closer, Gojyo stuck out one hand and cupped the animal with one hand (careful to keep the jaws held shut) as he began to pull at the rope around the rat's paw, hoping this was not about to become the incident that would forever hang him with the nickname "Stumpy."

But his hand remained intact, and instead off ripping off a limb for presuming to touch him, the Seiten Taisei helped him tear off the rest of the rope with sharp claws, then tossed the rat aside. It hit the ground with an "eep" and had the sense to put paw to dirt at top speed.

"Thanks," Gojyo said. He couldn't say why this made a difference to him, not being a huge defender of vermin before (he had mousetraps, or rather let Hakkai put up mousetraps), except that this incident made it a bit easier to go to sleep knowing that he was in the same cave as the Seiten Taisei.

Okay, he still waited until psycho-Goku had crawled back to his own bed on the other side of the cave to let himself close his eyes. But at least now he could feel like he had a reasonable chance of waking up the next morning.

* * *

In retrospect, this incident might have lulled Gojyo into a bit of a false sense of security. True, there was a limit to how secure you could feel around a monster that had been known to glow from the eyes, but Gojyo had at least thought he'd settled that the Seiten Taisei wasn't likely to kill or maim him at the moment. Somewhere, the merciful goddess was probably laughing about that.

The day started out so normally. First there was breakfast. Goku found some meat buns and Gojyo helped him heat them up over a fire. The monkey ate three-quarters of them and didn't wait for Gojyo to eat first, all of which held a certain sense of normalcy. Then Goku went back to sorting the cart. A great deal of what was on the bottom seemed to be broken glassware, dented metal items, and ripped-up cloth, as the packing of this illicit haul had not been well done. But they did eventually manage to separate out piles of metal cookery, dented but still functional furniture, cloth ranging from clothes to sheets to curtains, books and other paper, and completely unrecognizable junk. But the last pile was actually the smallest—most was in still functional if not pretty shape. The food was already out, of course, and it figured that Goku had managed to bring that back without so much as a bottle broken. The food pile was also the largest, big surprise. Gojyo ended up packing a few perishable items back in tins and putting them in the stream, hoping to preserve them for a bit longer in the coldest part of the cave.

Food preservation was something Gojyo had picked up from Hakkai, because nothing could put you in the doghouse with Hakkai quite like ruining the food he took great care to make, and no one could be smilingly terrifying quite like Hakkai. He wasn't sure what the Seiten Taisei made of him sticking perfectly good food underwater, but the Great Sage Equaling Heaven seemed to have adopted an attitude of amused tolerance towards anything Gojyo as long as he wasn't trying to make a break for it.

After lunch, Gojyo started trying to repair some battered furniture. It wasn't easy when he didn't have any tools, but a broken pot made a reasonable hammer and he managed to turn a combination of serrated glass and a smoking fire poker into something that served the purpose of a saw. Soon he had the two-legged table turned into a tripod, which was for the best since that table had a tendency to sag a bit when Goku wasn't glaring at it.

He hadn't even tried to run off when Goku slipped out of the cave for some hunting. Repeating the same failed tactic wouldn't change anything; he had a new plan. He had already started setting aside a few ingredients from the cart.

Goku came back with two rabbits. Rabbit meat was tough and stringy, and Gojyo wished Hakkai was there to work his cooking miracles on it. He did his best with a few loose spice jars he found. He used to live alone, after all. And there had been a time in his life when he'd eaten worse—it was much harder to make edible, say, a rat.

That evening, Goku found a pair of scissors, and set about cutting his hair. Gojyo stopped trying to stitch a ripped shirt to watch in amusement as Goku sliced off his ponytail, only to have it grow back again. Undeterred, the monkey set about cutting again, but within moments his hair was the same length. And again.

Was this another feature of the Seiten Taisei's healing vitality? It did seem to Gojyo that Goku's hair had grown remarkably fast since he'd lost his limiter.

After a few repetitions, Gojyo concluded that Goku was actually growing his hair back deliberately. Perhaps he wasn't satisfied with his haircut?

Setting aside the shirt, Gojyo called, "Come over here, kid. I'll cut it straight for you."

The golden eyes raised to his were blank and uncomprehending, and Gojyo was reminded that the Seiten Taisei didn't seem to understand human speech. But while he was making vague hand waves, Goku stood up and walked over, silently holding out the scissors.

His hair was almost down to the ground, but within a few minutes Gojyo had it back at its normal length. He took a bit longer to make the cut straight. Then he tied it back in a ponytail again.

"I haven't found a mirror so you can't tell, but you look like your old self again."

However, Goku seemed uninterested in what his hair looked like. He extended a hand for the scissors back, then impatiently gestured for Gojyo to turn around.

"What, you want to cut my hair now? Well, I suppose fair is fair. Just not too short, all right? My long red locks are my favorite way to send a universal fuck-you to everyone who knows what 'half-breed' means. Plus, the ladies love them. Sometimes they even give me extra groceries because I look cute, and you know you'd hate to have to explain to Hakkai why I'm not bringing back extra groceries anymore."

Goku's deep look of disgust had definitely been lifted off of the almighty Sanzo. Laughing, Gojyo turned around and presented his hair. He had every reason to suspect he was about to get a bad haircut, but who cared?

Sure enough, Goku instantly started cutting his hair right at the top of his head. "Geez, monkey, you want to shave me bald? Missing baldie Sanzo that much, are you? I could hit you with a paper fan for old time's sake."

Pretty soon, Gojyo had what he suspected was a ghastly cut, little bits of hair sticking out everywhere. Well, it wouldn't be the first time—he'd done a similar horrible job to himself in the bathroom after he'd thought that Hakkai had died (thanks to that jerk Sanzo, with his interpretative "Cho Gonou is dead" crap.) Goku was growling in frustration.

"Well, you could grow it out and try again," Gojyo suggested kindly.

Goku began to attack the remaining bits with a vengeance. He really did want to shave Gojyo bald.

The scissors scraped along Gojyo's scalp and he winced. "Hey, Goku be a little more gentle, would you?"

Goku only cut faster. Gojyo realized there was blood on his head now. "Cut it out!"

The scissors were cutting into only skin now. Gojyo tried to wrench free but Goku's hand on his shoulder had a grip of iron. He elbowed him in the face, got a grip on one arm and wrenched it out of its socket, and managed to knock the scissors flying, but Goku merely walked over, picked them up, and came back at him with implacable will. His face might be dripping with blood, his arm hanging limp, and his stomach imprinted with Gojyo's bookmark, but the Seiten Taisei had completely healed in the time it took him pin Gojyo to the cave wall. Even if Gojyo hadn't pulled the kick that would have broken his neck, the Seiten Taisei would have healed that too. In the end, there turned out to be little Gojyo could do except scream as Goku scalped him.

He was aware that it was over when he began to feel a familiar prickle of energy trickling through his anguish. After that, the pain receded. The very fact that he could feel the Seiten Taisei's hands on his head proved that he had skin again.

He ripped those hands away and staggered to his feet. "Get away from me!" Perhaps it wasn't smart to turn down healing when he could still feel blood trickling down his neck, but no one had ever accused Gojyo of being a genius. "Try to touch me again and I swear I'll bite, claw, spit, do whatever it takes to make both of us miserable."

The Seiten Taisei was just staring at him with those blank, burning eyes. "I'm not your fucking rag doll, you don't get to cut me up and have mommy sew me back together again. From now on, don't come near me unless you feel like breaking my bones again because that's the only kind of communication we'll be having."

Barely able to stand on his feet, Gojyo forced himself to stagger over to his makeshift bed. He pulled the covers over his head.

At least the Seiten Taisei didn't make any move to come near him. From now on the thing in the cave was the Seiten Taisei—he wouldn't make the mistake of thinking of it as Goku again, or even psycho-Goku, because whatever intelligence this might have, there was nothing of the monkey in it. And the only reason why he cared whether it stayed breathing was because Goku would want that body back.

He hadn't intended to go asleep until he thought the monster was sleeping as well, but his body overruled him and once his eyes shut his brain followed.

He dreamed he was standing under cherry blossoms drinking sake, then a friend of his came out and gave him a cigarette and they both went to go tease a stuck-up paper pusher about the pet monkey he'd been saddled with. A pile of books fell on him, a sad-eyed boy punched him in the arm, shouting voices yelled goodbye, and he laughed because he had no regrets. Then a bear with tusks was eating his face. _Don't you leave even a bone!_

When he woke up, his hair was spiky and black.

* * *

_To be continued_


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up the next morning went something like this:

Light was already streaming across Gojyo's eyes when he opened them. Something that smelled like meat was cooking. He closed his eyes again and pretended to be asleep.

It wasn't until he heard the sound of someone leaving the cave that he opened his eyes and sat up. When he ran his hand over his head, there was no wound. In fact, he felt a full head of hair, cut a great deal shorter than he preferred, but enough to call a shaggy crew cut, complete with irritatingly floppy bangs.

He staggered over to the stream and looked in. His hair was black like the ink of the strange mark on his forehead. Now he remembered where he'd thought he might have seen a mark like that before—the four aspects that Sanzo-sama was always handing down missions from. He'd never met them, but once saw a picture in the temple. He couldn't say for sure if the mark was the same; his water-reflection was pretty crappy.

He rubbed against his forehead, but the skin felt no different. No chance of wiping off goddamn permanent ink anyway. First civilized town he got to, he was getting that thing removed by the local tattoo artist. And then he was dyeing his hair.

It occurred to him that he might ask Sanzo what the mark meant first, but on second thought, why would he care? Once he had the regular monkey back, Gojyo never wanted to think about the Seiten Taisei again.

* * *

It had been perhaps 49 hours since Goku had lost his limiter and the Seiten Taisei had awoken. Still no sign of Sanzo. Perhaps the trail of his own blood that Gojyo had left leading to the cave hadn't been clear enough for the priest. Or perhaps Hakkai was still too injured to be left alone (especially if he'd lost his mind, or was stuck in a yokai appearance that would have gotten him killed in a human village.) In a sense, no news was good news, because Gojyo had no doubt that if Hakkai had been dead, Sanzo would have ditched his corpse in a heartbeat.

If Sanzo hadn't gotten Hakkai a doctor by now, then Gojyo was going to kill him. He might kill him anyway, for not putting the monkey's diadem on tighter, for being a magnet for whole armies of crazed yokai, for giving Hakkai the nod to take off his limiters then letting him try to take on the army by himself while they struggled to hold the Seiten Taisei off, and for suggesting that they take a shortcut through this damn wasteland to begin with.

The Seiten Taisei had left food on the table. Gojyo ate it, because he needed his strength. Then he made the best use of his time he could before the Seiten Taisei returned.

The Seiten Taisei didn't keep a very close eye on Gojyo or even worry about leaving him alone for short periods of time, which was probably an upsettingly accurate estimate of his capabilities. Brute force hadn't worked very well even when Gojyo hadn't felt like hell. Not that he was injured anywhere he could see, but he just generally felt like hell. He'd never had superior speed over the monkey either. That really only left subtlety, more Hakkai's specialty, really.

But if Hakkai had failed to teach Gojyo subtlety, the half-yokai had still managed to pick up a few things from his healer roommate, such as what Hakkai gave patients to drink when they were in pain (or occasionally when they were being loud and obnoxious). And among the rubbish Goku had brought back had been someone's herb kit.

As he combined his mixture with some honey tea (the only kind sweet enough that Goku had used to like it) he reflected that he was lucky Hakkai was not there to see. If he'd had any idea how much Gojyo had learned about herbs from him, then Gojyo might have been roped in for considerably more work. Sometimes incompetence was bliss.

When the Seiten Taisei returned dragging the day's kill, Gojyo said curtly, "I turned the leftover rabbit into a sandwich and made tea—oh, I see you found it. You know, I might have wanted half of that pitcher before you guzzled it."

He spent the next half an hour watching the Seiten Taisei for signs of drowsiness, but the yokai seemed to be a mass of energy, practically bouncing off the walls. All Gojyo learned from his close observation was that he had retained his ability to create fires and was also developing some interesting chi-like talents with water and air. This confirmed the notion that he had better not try a frontal assault again—and raised an uncomfortable suspicion that the Seiten Taisei was getting more powerful the longer unrestrained.

The kit didn't have ingredients for anything stronger, and Gojyo was tempted to blame lack of effect of his first potion on the poor quality of his materials. That was more comforting than the alternative.

His next attempt was a bottle of rat poison that he'd found lying in a corner of the cart. He'd felt a little guilty about that, but comforted himself by remembering that he'd been once drank rat poison mixed with vodka on a dare and been horribly sick for days, but if it hadn't killed him it wasn't going to cause any permanent damage to a cast-iron stomach like Goku. Finding a way to dilute it had been a challenge, but luckily the monkey could usually be counted on to scarf down an entire plate of meat buns himself if he didn't have any competition.

But as soon as the Seiten Taisei picked up one of the meat buns, he sniffed it, then set it down again. Then he took the entire plate outside and dumped it in the sand. So much for that plan.  _Goku_  had never been that picky about food, Gojyo thought sourly, unlike a certain snobby Great Sage Equaling Heaven.

The aforementioned Great Sage returned to the cave only to stick his face into Gojyo's and  _sniff_  him. Gojyo wondered if he was being suspected of the poisoning and tried to remember if he'd spilled anything on his hands. But the Seiten Taisei seemed satisfied with sniffing his mouth, and then immediately went off to sniff the rest of the food.

The next thought that occurred to Gojyo was that maybe the Seiten Taisei was testing to see whether  _he_  had gone bad, seeing how he was an emergency food supply. This was followed by a more intelligent observation that the Seiten Taisei might have been testing to see if he'd  _eaten_  anything bad. Of course, the two weren't mutually exclusive. Gojyo was planning on keeping one eye on the Seiten Taisei whenever he was around just in case.

As soon as he was done with the food rounds, the yokai walked out of the cave without so much as a warning look in Gojyo's direction. Perhaps inspired by the food apparently going bad, the Seiten Taisei had decided to set out on another hunting trip. And curiously, this time he'd grabbed the cart.

It dawned on Gojyo that if the ape really was worried about lack of meat buns, then he just might go hunting for more in the nearest human residency, and a heavy feeling settled in his stomach.

Gojyo had no choice but to try and stop him. This was his fault to begin with, and what he'd seen of the Seiten Taisei in the past made it hard to believe that he could be near people without someone getting killed. He wasn't sure what he could do to stop the Great Sage from doing whatever he pleased, aside from being a distraction, but if the monkey wanted something to chew on then he'd go down hard.

He didn't need to do more than step outside before the Seiten Taisei turned around, fixing him with a glare that was at least the equivalent of a nine on the Sanzo scale (also known as a seven on the Hakkai scale).

As if he expected a glare to be all it took to put down any rebellion, the Seiten Taisei turned around again. Well, showed what the Great Sage knew about Gojyo. He stooped down to scoop up a rock, and tossed it.

The rock did not hit its target, mainly because the aforementioned yokai was suddenly in a different location, an inch away from Gojyo's face. "That got your attention? I'm ready to play when you are," Gojyo snapped at him.

For a tense moment, he was wondering whether to block with the right arm or the left, because the right was his dominant but the left one had already been broken recently. Then the Seiten Taisei's shoulders slumped with defeat. Before Gojyo had time to react, the yokai grabbed him with one arm and the cart with the other, then hauled both back into the cave.

At least the Seiten Taisei didn't protest when Gojyo scrambled back his feet and away from him. He just tracked his movements wherever he went with those intense gold eyes. Well, now he had the slim comfort of knowing that when the Great Sage was watching him he wasn't off slaughtering anyone. This put a crimp in Gojyo's own escape, but so be it.

* * *

Gojyo wasn't sure when he'd drifted off. He blamed a rough night, but it was hard to believe he'd managed to sleep, much less sleep without conscious effort, with the Seiten Taisei still giving him that creepy-ass stare.

But the Seiten Taisei wasn't watching him at the moment—he was alone in the cave. He started to stand up, then realized that one of his arms was tied to the broken faucet of the bathtub he was leaning against.

So, Goku—the Seiten Taisei—had responded to his defiance earlier. Too bad the monkey had yet to figure out that if he only tied one arm, it was pretty easy to undo the knot with his other hand. (Rather belatedly it occurred to Gojyo that perhaps he should play dumb on this one and stay tied up, but his arm was cramping.)

Also, he wasn't planning on staying the cave—it might not be the smart thing to do, but he still needed to find out where the Seiten Taisei had run off to. The cart was gone and Gojyo had already decided he didn't plan to turn a blind eye to whatever the Seiten Taisei was doing, not if it might involve non-Minus waved people.

But no sooner had he grabbed a bottle of water for the trip then a scraping noise alerted him that the Seiten Taisei had returned.

The grand reaction to his rope trick was…nothing. The Great Sage didn't even seem to have noticed. He chose to ignore Gojyo in favor of unpacking his haul.

And what a haul it was. There was no point in deluding himself that the Seiten Taisei hadn't poked his yokai head into a town, because this was clearly people-stuff. Difficult to say what it all was, because this time every item was wrapped in a box. The sole exception was an enormous oak desk with a matching velvet chair, but unlike the shattered furniture of last time, this had been wrapped with cloth to avoid damage, with boxes neatly stacked around and under it. There were few metal tins that were probably food again, but mostly boxes wrapped in cloth or colored paper, all neatly stacked and tied into the cart with a long length of rope. The first box the Seiten Taisei ripped open sent flying a load of the cushy wrapping they used to pack expensive stuff.

Gojyo wondered if the Seiten Taisei had learned from experience, but—he didn't think even the original Goku had ever been capable of such fancy packaging, complete with bows and ribbons. Someone else had put this together, with great care and even apparent enthusiasm.

They looked like offerings before a god.

* * *

Gojyo had declined to help unpack the illicit haul this time, feeling too glum about being unable to prevent whatever had happened. And he was out of ideas for escape, too. One more lousy day like this and he might seriously start counting on Sanzo and Hakkai to find them, which was mortifying on principle. His fingers itched for his shakujou. Too bad he didn't see anything that looked like a sickle emerging from the pile. There was a kitchen knife and a few objects could be used as a makeshift club, such as some elaborate metal statues that Gojyo suspected the Seiten Taisei hadn't particularly wanted, judging by the way he had tossed them over his shoulder. He seemed to be looking for something.

That suspicion was confirmed when the Great Sage let out a small sound of triumph. What was it, a jumbo meat bun?

The Seiten Taisei practically  _gamboled_  over, hands behind his back like a child with a surprise. Gojyo treated this with all the respect that a surprise from the Seiten Taisei deserved, meaning that he brought a wooden plate in front of himself to use as a shield.

Standing in front of him and grinning broadly (almost Goku-esque) the Seiten Taisei pulled his hands out from behind his back and held out a pack of Marlboros. With a lighter.

"That's not my brand, you know," Gojyo said. The Great Sage's spirits did not seem to be dampened.

Nicotine was nicotine at this point. Gojyo accepted the pack, and the stare of a wide-eyed demigod didn't derail him from lighting one up.

"If you think this means we're friends again, you are sorely mistaken." He took a deep long drag. No, after last time he wasn't about to forget who he was dealing with so easily, but it did feel good to take a smoke.

The Seiten Taisei had abandoned him to go play with a stream, so Gojyo went looking for the box the precious treasure had come from. It was the one lying on top, and it was filled with packs of cigarettes of different brands. Including one of his own Hi-Lites. "Not bad for a stupid monkey."

He almost jumped a food in the air when the aforementioned monkey tapped him on the shoulder. He wasn't going to get used to those claws any time soon. One of them was currently pointing in the direction of the broken-off bathtub, which was filled with steaming-hot water

"How did you even do that?" Curiosity drove him closer. As Gojyo peered over, he could see that the water even looked clean, not as if it had come out of that scummy stream. "I hope you didn't just use all our drinking water." He looked around, but couldn't see any kind of pot for carrying water or heating it over a fire. Perhaps he should have paid a little more attention to what the monkey was doing, less to the smokes.

He felt a shove on his back. "Alright, I can take a hint. Apparently I smell bad. Now let me make sure this water isn't going to boil me—not bad, but it's still a little on the hot side, let's give it a few minutes." And buy time for Gojyo to decide how he felt about this. Admittedly, he did feel very grimy (almost like he'd been sleeping in a pile of mud or something) but he was sure Hakkai had a pithy saying about accepting gifts from people who had in the past tried to kill you.

He heard a faint growl behind him, and suddenly the back of his shirt was ripped clean off. Well, that took care of any illusions he might have had that this was a choice. "You don't smell that great yourself, monkey." Admittedly, the Seiten Taisei looked cleaner than he did. Surprise, the yokai must have been eating less dirt to face over the last couple days.

He stripped his pants off rapidly, because he hadn't seen another pair of jeans yet so he was loathe to lose these. Then he made the plunge.

The water was very hot, if not quite bad enough to make him suspect the Seiten Taisei had decided to cook him. He risked a glance to see what the voyeur was doing now, but he wasn't even looking. Instead the Seiten Taisei had turned his attention to Gojyo's pile of blankets serving as a bed.

He picked one up and shook it. The dirt fell off in a way that would have made a professional laundress turn bug-eyed with envy, or maybe fear for her job.

"If you could do that, why not try it sooner?" Gojyo called. He was ignored. But he'd been sleeping in mud for two nights now! Stupid monkey.

Unless this was another new ability only developing now…and so was the water. Well, it wasn't like housekeeping-chi made the Seiten Taisei any more terrifying, Gojyo told himself. He tried not to think about the other uses that an ability to make liquid hot could be put to (such as boiling your blood…oh, too late, he'd thought about it.)

However, the laundry trick got boring once you'd seen it a few times. Gojyo turned his attention to trying to separate a layer of dirt off his skin. This was harder than it looked—turned out that soap existed for a reason after all, and he didn't have any.

Trying to wash out his hair was a grim reminder that it wasn't his hair anymore. It didn't even feel like it had the same texture—this was thicker and less silky.

Meanwhile, the Seiten Taisei was laying out futons. The real five-star experience. Again, Gojyo wondered where all this had come from, and whether he should be reassured at the lack of signs of violence or wonder if this was all that remained of some poor village. But someone had to pack this junk, right? Maybe someone who had sufficient intelligence not to fight the Seiten Taisei? Someone with an odd affection for creepy religious statues too. Maybe Goku made some friends in derangement.

The water had chilled and he was wondering if he had the nerve to ask psycho-Goku to try the laundry trick with his clothes. That was when he realized that the clothes were gone. In their place, at the foot of the tub, was a pair of black leather pants, black boots, and a long black leather coat with thick white shoulder pads and a belt that looked military, and an ugly-ass winged skull for a fastener.

Unfortunately, there was nothing else to wear, his old clothes having vanished when he wasn't looking. Okay, there was a towel, but it had a fluffy bunny on the front so that wasn't really an option.

For a moment, Gojyo was furious. The Seiten Taisei had the nerve to play dress-up doll with him? He wouldn't wear this junk. He was seriously considering going out starkers, and let the Seiten Taisei make of that what he would, when he noticed that the boots were actually pretty snazzy. And those pants were made of genuine calf leather, which he'd never been able to afford. At least monkey version 2.0 (crazy) had good taste.

Dignity, or black leather coat? It was a tough one. But the thing left his chest open. And it had a skull fastener. He just couldn't resist.

There was also a golden revolver lying on underneath the clothes. If this was the Seiten Taisei's invitation to fight to the death, Gojyo would rather pass on that, especially now that he was wearing what were probably the most valuable clothes he'd ever had in his entire life. But the revolver wasn't even loaded. Either monkey brain had failed to grasp the fundamental concept of firearms or this was just another weird accessory.

For a second, he would have sworn the weapon looked familiar. Then he spotted that it had someone's initials crossed out on the handle. No, this wasn't the gun that he was thinking of. Whatever gun he'd been thinking of. The memory was already slipping away.

* * *

At least half of Goku's cart seemed to have been stuffed full of books. At least this time he didn't bring back any more copies of the farmer's almanac. A quarter of the haul was just junk: much of it made of gold and jewels, but in a desert where food, water, and shopping were lacking, that just made it pretty junk. Goku didn't seem to care about Gojyo piling assorted statues, vases, and jewelry in the back of the cave, or about him breaking off a few small jewels to pocket just in case. But he did object to Gojyo tossing the frog ashtray. The monkey must have an eclectic sense of taste, because that thing kept turning up on their table or next to Gojyo's futon, like a bad penny.

The only other thing the Seiten Taisei made any objection to him using was the oak desk—he spat out incomprehensible syllables the first time Gojyo tried to sit in its chair. Not that the monkey showed any interest in sitting there himself. Instead, he decorated the desk with papers ripped out of a book and stacked neatly next to an enormous stamp. Since there were already two chairs, Gojyo saw no need to disrupt this bizarre Feng-shui, incomprehensible though it might be.

In addition, the Seiten Taisei was moving the books into precarious piles all around the cave, tall stacks that looked like they might topple over under the weight of a decent breeze. When Gojyo attempted to turn the piles into something flatter, the monkey glared at him. It was more a Goku-glare than a Seiten Taisei-glare, so Gojyo felt free to ignore it.

His eye was caught by one book. It looked like a hand-engraved copy of  _Yuding Animals_. He flipped open the cover. It was even signed by Wu Cheng'en.

Hakkai would love to get his hands on this book. Gojyo sighed as he closed the cover.

He almost placed the book back down, but then tucked it under his arm. Maybe it would be foolish to let something like that weight him down when he tried to escape again, but—he could set it aside somewhere he could find it again. He dearly wished that he knew where Hakkai was, or at least whether baldy-Sanzo had managed to get him proper medical attention.

He turned around to find the Seiten Taisei staring at him. The blank-eyed gaze had signaled bad things in the past, and he took a step back.

But the other did not come any closer. He said, in a voice rough with disuse, "Tenpou is still alive. Even at this distance, I can smell him." He added, almost as an afterthought, "Most of the blood on him is not his anymore."

"Tenpou? Who the hell is that?"

He had no idea why Goku suddenly looked like he might cry.

* * *

Gojyo's latest escape plan involved trapping the Seiten Taisei in a pit. With spikes in it. Okay, it wasn't much of a plan, but resources were limited. Gojyo had already realized that he simply wasn't going to be able to sneak past the Seiten Taisei. He didn't know if the monkey really could "smell" him or whatever, but even dead asleep he seemed to know where Gojyo was, which became increasingly creepy the more one thought about it. His attempts at fighting the Seiten Taisei generally fell into three categories: "brief," "laughable," and "oh dear god the pain." Also, Gojyo was fairly certain the Seiten Taisei was getting stronger the longer he was loose. The last time their three-legged table had started to totter, the cracks had repaired as soon as Goku  _looked at it_. The monkey had definitely not been able to do anything like that before.

Theoretically, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was defined as a being with power the equivalent of every single god in heaven combined. It was hard to believe something like that had gotten its ass kicked by Hakkai in yokai form, however scary Hakkai could be. Now, Gojyo was starting to suspect that what he'd seen in the past hadn't been the Seiten Taisei's full power.

With running and fighting out, that only left dirty tricks. The monkey was dumb enough not to notice Gojyo creating a makeshift shovel from a broken dish and a miscellaneous tent pole, or to notice the pile of dirt that grew every time he returned from an excursion out of the cave—so perhaps he'd be dumb enough to fall into a stick-covered pit. Okay, it was a stretch, but then yesterday he'd seen the Seiten Taisei get his hand stuck in a pickle jar.

It had been pretty hilarious, watching the Great Sage Equaling Heaven yank at the jar trying to figure out why his fist wouldn't come out now that it had pickles in it. Why he didn't just break the jar, Gojyo had no idea. Instead he'd tried different angles, holding the jar above his head, holding it straight down and shaking, and even trying to use water to slide his hand out. Eventually Gojyo had taken pity on him and demonstrated with a different jar that a hand in fist was larger than a hand relaxed, and how to use a spoon. The Seiten Taisei had rewarded him with a pickle.

Incidents like these made Gojyo think that the spikes were a little too harsh. Perhaps he could manage to hold the Seiten Taisei in place with something sticky.

On the other hand, he was still leaving some noise-generating cans strung up around his futon when he went to bed, because psycho-Goku remained unpredictable. And he was still sleeping lightly and uneasily.

That was why when his eyes opened and it was still dark, Gojyo's first instinct was to throw a hand over his head for protection, fearing an attack. But it wasn't the sound of anyone approaching that had awoken him. Instead, he heard a faint choking sound.

It took a few more minutes for his brain to wake up enough to realize that he was listening to someone sobbing.

Gojyo slowly got to his feet, cursing briefly when he stepped on one of his own cans. He was certain there was only one other person in the cave, and it was hard to believe that his ears were correct.

But as he approached where the Seiten Taisei was lying, there could be no doubt as to the source of the cries. And as his eyes adjusted, he could make out the monkey with his face shoved into a pillow and shoulders rocking.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked uncertainly. There was no acknowledgment, not even a subtle body shift. Could the Seiten Taisei still be asleep?

His body was thrashing rhythmically, as if he was in pain, and between sobs, he screamed into the pillow. Gojyo had overheard Hakkai's nightmares before, but to his knowledge Goku had always slept untroubled—though he didn't like sleeping in a room alone. Tentatively, Gojyo reached out a hand.

Then it occurred to him that touching the Seiten Taisei, especially when he was already snarling, might not be the most un-suicidal thing he'd ever done. He went looking for a long and pointy stick.

Having found a piece of rejected firewood that fit the bill, he came back and gave the Seiten Taisei a poke. "Are you awake?" he asked, feeling foolish.

The touch on his back caused Goku to roll over. Gojyo could see that his eyes were squeezed shut, but leaking tears. The Seiten Taisei let out a long moan, like someone watching himself (or someone he loved) be torn to pieces. His head was shaking so frantically it looked like his neck might twist out of shape.

Gojyo hesitantly extended the stick again. The Seiten Taisei began to claw at his own hair. When Gojyo had first picked up Hakkai, back before he'd even called himself Hakkai, he'd once clawed himself bleeding while in the thrall of a nightmare.

The kid  _screamed_. It was the sound of a mountain falling.

With the Seiten Taisei in this state, he should probably get on the other side of the cave and stay very still so he didn't look like a target. It briefly crossed his mind that he might try to leave while the Seiten Taisei looked distracted, although he wasn't sure that would end well. A Seiten Taisei who was capable of hurting himself might kill Gojyo. Unquestionably, the smartest thing to do would be to back away slowly and not make any sudden movements.

But he was Sha Gojyo, idiot extraordinaire. He had never done the smart thing before in his entire life, so why start now?

Gojyo kneeled down, and grabbed Goku's hands to pull them away from his face (he still had claws, he might seriously injure himself if he scratched an eye). The yokai didn't try to bat him away; he only whimpered. "It's okay, Goku. It's just a nightmare," Gojyo said, shaking him gently in an effort to wake him up.

The Seiten Taisei froze. His eyes snapped open, bright and gold in the darkness. Then he launched himself at Gojyo.

Gojyo found himself knocked flat on his back, his heart pounding like a waterfall. It took a few seconds to realize that the Seiten Taisei was hugging him tightly. Two arms had a death grip on his back and a face was buried in his chest. Despite the strength of his grip, Goku was trembling. Gojyo shifted his body up and wiggled his arms free so that he could return the embrace.

"Ken-niichan," Goku sobbed into his shirt.

Gojyo patted him on the back, wondering if any second now the yokai was going to rip off his hand and stuff it down his throat. Ah, well, he'd thrown his body into the fire for people who deserved it far less than Goku did.

He wished Hakkai was here. He was way better at this stuff then Gojyo. Sanzo, on the other hand, would probably hit the monkey with his fan for disturbing his sleep. Of course Sanzo could surprise you occasionally. Maybe he'd actually have something wise to say that would be better than anything Gojyo could ever think of.

After a bit more hugging and a clumsy attempt by Gojyo to be soothing when he didn't even know if the other person understood what he was saying, Goku finally stopped trembling and relaxed his grip. He'd gone back to sleep.

The half-yokai attempted to extract himself, but realized that while Goku might have relaxed his grip, it was only from "bruising" to "inescapable." No way he could wiggle free without waking the kid up.

Sleeping on the monkey's futon was, obviously, undignified. So he really had little choice but to carry Goku back over to his bed. The cans, meant to warn of the Seiten Taisei's approach, scattered when he gave them a good kick, but Goku didn't even stir.

* * *

The next morning, Gojyo woke up with the monkey cuddling his arm, and resisted the urge to feel guilty about trying to drug him, knock him into a pit full of spikes, etc. Guilt was only assuaged by reminding himself that this was actually for Goku's own good; if Gojyo was trying to run away it was only with the long-term intent of coming back with Hakkai and Sanzo and returning him to sanity. Couldn't let the monkey go his whole life thinking that inch-long fingernails were an acceptable fashion statement—he'd never become popular with the ladies.

"Kenren," Goku muttered in his sleep as nudged his head closer. Gojyo decided he could lie still a little longer.

* * *

There were really only two changes noticeable after that night. The first was that the Seiten Taisei decided to drag his futon over and sleep next to him. This should have upset Gojyo given how hard he'd tried to stay on the other end of the cave from the demonic child of the earth, but then if he'd survived last night he figured his odds of being murdered in his sleep later were low.

The other change was that when Gojyo accidentally said, "Goku, quit hogging the butter," at breakfast, the Seiten Taisei turned his head towards him. As if he'd recognized that the name "Goku" meant him.

Gojyo had some decidedly mixed feelings about the Seiten Taisei responding to Goku's name. If this was a sign of returning sanity, that was good. But it might just be because he'd called the Seiten Taisei that last night. In all his transformations, Gojyo didn't remember the Seiten Taisei ever responding to the name Goku before. But then, he also couldn't remember the last time he'd tried to address him as anything other than "hey you."

Gojyo tried the names "Sanzo" and "Hakkai" but got no reaction. An attempt to clarify his own name (pointing at himself and intoning, "Gojyo") got him a disgusted look. The first time, Goku had also talked back at him, but full of meaningless syllables such as the often-repeated "Ten-po" and "Ko-zen" which confirmed that he was still struggling with comprehensible speech.

Also, he did not give back the butter, so it was still a toss-up as to how much he understood.

* * *

Getting cuddly with the Seiten Taisei (literally, merciful goddess help him) didn't change the fact that Gojyo couldn't stick around here. It had been long enough that he could only conclude something had delayed Sanzo and Hakkai, likely more of the inevitable trouble they seemed to draw wherever they went. It was enough to make Gojyo a little worried (more worried about Hakkai than droopy-eyes, obviously) but those two could definitely take care of themselves. They were probably at the top of the list of people in existence who could take care of themselves (as long as the judging was based on taking care of stuff trying to kill you and not, say, taking care of your mental condition).

In other words, it wasn't that Gojyo didn't think Hakkai and Sanzo would turn up eventually, it was more that he wasn't sure they would do it in time. The Seiten Taisei version of Goku was increasing in power and intelligence. True, if they only had Sanzo they would have much better odds—they wouldn't have to beat the Seiten Taisei, just get the damn monk close enough to touch him and call back his diadem. And even if the Seiten Taisei did become a bit much to take on head-on, Gojyo was confident that Hakkai would have some better ideas than he did on how to be sneaky. Thus he needed Hakkai for his planning ability and Sanzo for his Sanzoness—and while he could have just waited for them, he was getting a little sick of the monkey's meat-obsessed diet. One more dead horse-thing and he might go stir crazy.

The pit idea actually worked far better than Gojyo had hoped. The Seiten Taisei's godly abilities did not extend to spotting when the ground was actually a hole covered with sticks. Unfortunately, he found the pit before Gojyo was done.

A resounding crack was Gojyo's only clue, before he spotted the Seiten Taisei standing in a waist-high hole looking vaguely bemused.

"That's been known to happen. Very unstable ground, caves," Gojyo said.

The Seiten Taisei just stared.

"Need a hand out?" Gojyo asked, since it was already obvious his trap had epically failed. "Just say nicely, 'Please Gojyo.' Repeat after me: Goooo-jooooo. Two syllables, you can pronounce them."

The Seiten Taisei snarled at him. Then he planted both hands on the level ground and hopped out with disgusting ease. He stalked over and snapped his teeth in Gojyo's face for good measure. But the half-yokai doubted it was the hole in the ground that had him upset. For some reason, despite continuing to respond to "Goku" he seemed to have taken a dislike to Gojyo's name and any attempt to make him learn it.

The monkey then spent the next half hour examining the pit, then examining the rest of the cave, then placing the sticks back over the pit, and after a few attempts, figuring out how to lay them on top so they covered the hole. By the end Gojyo was confident that he'd been sussed out—another pit trap would not work.

Funny how Goku was smart enough learn from the trap, but didn't seem to be smart enough to figure out that Gojyo was responsible. Who else was in this cave? Or did he even realize that it was a trap, that camouflaged pits weren't a phenomenon of nature?

Or perhaps it had done him so little harm he just viewed it as a harmless prank. If so, Gojyo dearly hoped that he hadn't started a prank war.

* * *

What happened next could have very well been the Seiten Taisei's idea of a prank, although Gojyo doubted it, because it fit in too well with all the other creepiness that had been inflicted on him of late.

Goku hadn't just dragged back another rabbit from his daily excursions. He'd also brought back some funny looking plants and a long flat rock. After handing the rabbit over to Gojyo (what was he, gofer?—the only reason he was skinning the damn thing was because last time Goku did it he almost choked to death on a leftover furball) the Seiten Taisei began piling plants onto the stone and, at one point, setting them on fire. Well, if the monkey thought he could cook, it wasn't Gojyo's place to dissuade him. He just had better not expect the half-yokai to eat the stuff.

The smell was very odd, like sakura and a hint of jade, and Gojyo could swear it was familiar even if he couldn't say from where. He decided to just leave Goku to his being crazy and go back to subtly perusing a hunter's guidebook looking for any better clues on traps to hold very large, strong animals.

This proved to be a bit of a mistake.

The first clue he got that Goku had gone a little psycho again was when the Seiten Taisei walked up behind him and snatched his book out of his hands, only to lay it down gently on one of the ever-tenuous piles of paper. He was slightly less gentle in tipping Gojyo out of his chair.

"You see, that picture showing the monkey dangling from a rope tied to a tree, that wasn't supposed to be you at all, however strong the physical resemblance might be," Gojyo attempted to explain. Crazy-Goku was too busy setting the chair back with the table to pay any attention. "And since when did you develop Hakkai's obsession with placing furniture? I was going to put the chair back when I was done."

The dumb monkey returned with a bowl in his hands of whatever gunk he'd been creating. "Oh, no, I am not taste-testing that. Not even if you hadn't just shoved me out of a chair. And definitely not now that you've just stuck your fingers in it-"

He was caught completely off guard when Goku flicked the stuff straight into his eyes.

Then he was screaming.

* * *

The pain when the liquid splashed into his eyes was like having a miniature sun thrust into his eye socket. He'd frantically tried to dig it out with his fingers, but his hands had been batted away. And then there was the sensation of pressure against his right eye, and then his left, and his entire vision turned bright red. He was aware of wet all over his face and that his back was against a solid surface, but mostly everything faded against the feeling of a drill through his eyes.

The pain didn't stop when everything went black. He just went from feeling like he was on fire to feeling frozen into a block of ice.

Something slammed into the back of his head. If this had been done by some _one_  then it was probably a mercy.

* * *

He opened his eyes. He was a little surprised to see his hands resting on top of a blanket. Not so much surprised that he was back at his futon, but that he could _see_. There was no pain in his eyes.

For a crazy moment, he wondered if any of that had actually happened. He glanced around for—for that person. Who was sitting by the fire turning a four-legged creature on its spit. There did not seem to any other strange concoctions cooking.

Though Gojyo didn't think he'd made a sound, the other's head still turned towards him. Those golden eyes locked on him and did a one-over across his face. Gojyo glared at him with all the venom he could muster.

To his surprise, the other smiled broadly, looking for all the world like a child who had completed all his chores early.

The urge to wipe that smile off was overwhelming. It was, in fact, irresistible. Gojyo pulled himself to his feet (no weakness in his body), strode over, and punched the Seiten Taisei straight in his smug face.

He tumbled over without resistance, eyes wide with surprise. The smile was gone—in fact, he looked like he might be tearing up.

That look would have made Gojyo feel guilty earlier that morning, but had no effect now. He couldn't even decide if he was relieved or angered that the Seiten Taisei wasn't showing any desire to hit back. Relief would have been logical. Anger was possible because right now he needed to fight something.

He whacked the yokai on the head again for good measure, but this time couldn't muster up his full strength to hit someone who wasn't even defending. There was blood pouring from the Seiten Taisei's nose, but he couldn't tell if it was broken because it was already healing.

This wasn't making him feel the slightest bit better. But as soon as he lowered his fists, the Seiten Taisei went back to tending to the fire. As if everything was normal. Even regular Goku would have hit him back by now. But then, he'd known women on PMS who were less volatile than psycho-Goku.

It finally occurred to him to touch a hand to his face, but he could feel no trace of an injury, even when he gingerly poked at his eyelids. He hesitated to turn his back on the monster, but he had to know. Making a wide circle around the Seiten Taisei, he walked back to the cart to where he had found a partly-cracked hand mirror earlier that morning.

His eyes were as black as coal.

Gojyo suppressed a shudder. It wasn't as though he missed that cursed red, really. But the face staring back at him now seemed to belong to a stranger. Black hair, sticking up around his head, with spiky bangs. A black mark on his forehead, like a divine symbol. Black eyes staring back at him. The oddest thing was his sense of déjà vu. He felt as if he was looking at someone he'd met long ago, but who had since become a stranger.

He had an irrational urge to shake Goku and demand, "I thought you said you liked red? That my hair reminded you of fire?" But this Goku was a stranger too. A stranger with hungry golden eyes.

* * *

Gojyo allowed himself a few hours to sulk and avoid the Seiten Taisei, who returned the sentiment. But that was all he could afford, because he didn't intend to give up.

He forced himself to sit down at the table for dinner, because it was smarter to act normal. He even resolved to call Goku "Goku" because that was what he previously did. His acting abilities were not put to any real test. Goku was extremely subdued, even going as far as to eat a little less than half the food at dinner.

He went to bed early. Not to sleep, just to lie there waiting for his companion to decide to sleep as well. It was hard to lie still but not hard to avoid drifting off while waiting for the Seiten Taisei's breathing to slow, because he was far too tense to let himself slip into unconsciousness.

When he was confident the other was asleep, he rolled over and wrapped the rope around his throat.

Gojyo kept his ears tightly peeled as the choking started. He had to be careful, because he knew that the Seiten Taisei could heal near-fatal injuries but only Hazel's creepy pendant had ever been able to heal death. He couldn't risk crushing Goku's throat. He couldn't risk going too easy either. He had to let go exactly when the breathing stopped.

Except Goku's chest stopped moving at the same time a pair of gold eyes snapped open, and for a second they stared at each other, frozen. Then, without taking a breath, two arms shot up and in an instant their positions were reversed, with Gojyo on his back and psycho-Goku leaning over him, one hand tearing the rope off his throat.

Gojyo tried to knee him in the stomach, because it wasn't his nature to give up just because he knew he was outmatched. But Goku merely wrapped his arms around him, the same as he had when he'd been suffering from a nightmare, and was impossible to budge that grip. Kicking him was like kicking a rock. He patted Gojyo's back as if in a twisted parody of that night, and mumbled something in a language Gojyo didn't understand.

Finally realizing that there was no fight left, Gojyo simply tried to push Goku off him. This time, the Seiten Taisei let go, although his eyes remained fixed on Gojyo's face. When he attempted to stand up, he was yanked back down again.

"Don't you at least think we'd be better off sleeping separately?" Gojyo asked. "Not worried about losing your beauty sleep to the occasional murder attempt?" But there was a choked note in his voice that bothered him. He hadn't cried since the last time he looked at his mother's illusionary dead body, and he wasn't about to start with the Seiten Taisei of all things watching him. So he spent the entire night holding himself together out of sheer willpower.

The next day, he refused to eat.

* * *

It was not a surrender, it was a deliberately passive-aggressive tactic. Not the type Gojyo favored, but he had exhausted a long list of other options. He would be satisfied with anything that forced the Seiten Taisei to act, to do something to break this endless stalemate.

The first time he ignored a meal, the Seiten Taisei did not seem to care. The second time he brought food over, and stood around awkwardly while Gojyo refused to take it. That evening, he came back with a plate of restaurant-style barbequed meat, along with a bottle of fancy wine. Gojyo assumed this was intended as a temptation, an elaborate one if the Seiten Taisei had gone all the way out of the desert to find a meal. When this was ignored as well, the monkey snagged a few bites for himself, but somehow refrained from scarfing down the whole plate.

Before night had fallen, the Seiten Taisei had cracked enough to try and shove food into his mouth. He had no particular skill at it. Gojyo felt more strain from the mouthwatering-smell than from the hand trying to pry his jaw open. (There wasn't much strength behind it—what, like he cared about hurting Gojyo  _now_?)

When the Seiten Taisei left with the tray, Gojyo resumed pretending to read. Shortly the Seiten Taisei stormed back and grabbed him by his shoulders. Again, Gojyo felt a strange tingling through him, a little like receiving a zap from touching wool during winter. When the hands let go, he realized he was no longer hungry.

The voice which emerged was Goku's, but spoke with a strange accent. "Don't think I'm not capable of keeping you alive whether you eat or not."

"Oh, now you know what speech is," Gojyo grumbled. "Then are you feeling willing to tell me what it is that you want?"

"I want to find Konzen and Tenpou."

Gojyo threw up his hands. "Well, this is me not stopping you! Do you want me to direct you to the exit?"

"I want you to go back to normal again."

Gojyo thought about this. "You may need to provide a pack of cards and a gambling house for me to do that. I would not say no to some hot babes either."

"I want to become stronger. Strong enough to get that thing off my head."

And suddenly, they were treading on thin ice. Gojyo said cautiously, "You mean the diadem? You remember that?"

"It restrains me. That and the chains kept me from my full power. At first, it was too much for me to handle. I had no sense of self. But gradually I can direct the destruction to thrust a blade into reality where I chose. With my full power, they can't stop me from remembering."

That was an unnerving statement. Gojyo always thought of the Seiten Taisei as having no memories because he lost his time being Goku. It had never occurred to him that there might be a different set of memories that his Goku was missing. But the monkey never had been able to explain what he was doing in the cave where Sanzo had found him, had he?

Wondering aloud, he asked, "What do you remember?"

The golden eyes closed. "Five hundred years."

"That sounds…difficult," Gojyo said.

"It will not happen again. This time I will not fight them until I am strong enough."

"Strong enough to do what?"

"Kill the gods. All of them."

Gojyo resisted an urge to face-palm. "You know, when droopy-eyes spouts off his bit about 'If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha,' I don't think he meant to be taken quite so literally. I mean, sure any god which annoys Sanzo is likely to get a face-full of lead, but it's not as though he has a grudge against gods in particular. He just likes to shoot things. And yet he's still not as bad as you right now."

"Konzen."

"What?"

"His name is Konzen. And they killed him."

"Who?'

"They killed you too."

Gojyo shook his head. "You're lucky you're cute, monkey, because you sure won't be getting the ladies with your brains."

The Seiten Taisei scowled at him in a way that screamed "Goku." This only killed Gojyo's enjoyment of the moment. He cut straight to the point. "I really only have one thing I need to talk to you about. Do you have any more objections to my face that are likely to lead to a makeover with your claws?"

The Seiten Taisei cocked his head. "I suppose you're as fixed as you're going to get."

"Oh, goody. Can I have the no-more-attacks part in writing?"

"As long as you don't go crazy again, I won't be forced to restrain you."

"Now that's completely ridicu-" Gojyo remembered last night. "-you started it."

"As for your mind, if I cannot force the gods to restore it I will have to make do."

Gojyo suppressed a shiver. "Lovely. How are you going to find a god anyway? I should warn you that the usual way people attempt to send themselves to heaven is called suicide and is a bad idea."

This time, the Seiten Taisei's smile had nothing of Goku in it. "I know where they live."

"Wonderful. Mind letting me make myself scarce before then? I have a few friends I need to find again, and I really suspect they've gotten themselves in trouble without me."

"I can't go near Konzen, not until I can destroy the diadem."

"That's nice. The people I'm looking for are a droopy-eyed monk and a healer with a white dragon. I think they'd like to see you too." And before you become resistant to the diadem, please let that be the insanity talking and not something that's actually going to happen, Gojyo added mentally.

"I suppose we can let Gojun come along too. Tenpou always liked him."

"I feel that we're not having the same conversation here."

The Seiten Taisei gave him a condescending look. "It's not my fault that you've lost your marbles, Ken-nii." He cocked his head. "Actually, we may need to leave. They're coming."

"Please tell me 'they' aren't gods. I had enough grief from the one who was supposed to be merciful."

"They used to be gods, but you've forgotten their names. Konzen and Tenpou, with Gojun. Such a lovely trail of death they've left behind them. But before we meet again, I need to buy a little more time to absorb power from the earth, until I'm stronger than the diadem. And having to spend power on you isn't helping."

"Wait. Are you talking about Sanzo and Hakkai? Are they supposed to be this Konzen and Tenpou?"

The monkey's patented "duh you idiot" look answered that question. Gojyo explained, "It was the 'trail of death' that gave it away. Honestly, you could have been clearer about that from the beginning."

"I won't call them by those names," the Seiten Taisei said coldly.

"And I refuse to just wait here for them. If Sanzo gets the idea that he has to rescue me a second time, he might really kill me just to save himself the trouble. Got any memory of a crazy guy who called himself Kami-sama lurking around your skull, monkey? You helped them almost kick me to death. So, apologies to your grand plans for deicide, but I haven't got the patience to wait around here. And if you plan to stop me, we'll be having it out right now." The threat was not impressive, but Gojyo hoped to at least convey sincerity and ability to inconvenience.

For a long moment, the Seiten Taisei hesitated. "Then go."

Gojyo tore his eyes away from the table, where he'd been eyeing whether or not he could make it to the kitchen knife. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yes."

Gojyo made for the water bottles at a run. Who knew what was going on in the crazy head, or how long it would take for the Seiten Taisei to change his mind, but he'd best be out of there before then.

He didn't think this was a gotcha-can't-leave-after-all trick. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven had the subtleness of a kick to the head. Perhaps he'd finally managed to be just enough trouble to be not worth it. Perhaps this was connected to Sanzo and Hakkai approaching, if he could believe the Seiten Taisei about that. Perhaps he was bait. He still had confidence this was the best thing he could do right now. The almighty Sanzo needed a little warning that he might find his monkey off the leash more dangerous than he remembered, and if anyone could figure out what was going on it was Hakkai.

Still, at the cave opening, he hesitated. Turned back. "Do you want to come with me? If you do there's bound to be a fight, and you always did seem to enjoy beating the crap out of the three of us in that form. It'll be fun."

The Seiten Taisei said, "I know that you'll come back for me. You always did."

For a second, an image flashed across Gojyo's eyes—a child thrashing against the floor, a mob screaming for blood outside. He blinked and it was gone. There was nothing but the cave and the golden eyes.

Gojyo ran.

* * *

The Seiten Taisei let him go for two reasons. First of all, he could sense nothing large and living in twenty miles, and he had confidence that if a god came, he could make it in time to save him. Second, it would only take him one more day to gather enough power that the gods' manacles would no longer be able to hold him, and that time would be lengthened if he was forced to fight Kenren off again. Success was so close. He would wait this very short period of time, and then he would finally be ready.

Even so, it was the nature of a predator to chase anything that ran, and his claws were itching. Long after Kenren was out of site, he could hear that strong heartbeat throbbing, and could scent a thread of anxiety that was not quite fear, but close enough to be enticing.

He distracted himself by setting up the room. They might need to be there for whatever time it took to get Konzen and Tenpou back to normal, so it was important that it would be comfy. He had set up a desk, a pile of paper, and a stamp that looked sort of similar to the one Konzen liked to use. He'd had a fondness for walnuts while stamping papers too, and Goku had made sure to provide them as well.

The books were a mess, but Ten-chan had always seemed to prefer his books that way. He'd feel right at home. Goku had rigged the pile so that if he pulled out one of them, they would all fall on Tenpou. It would be funny. Admittedly, both Konzen and Tenpou would probably find it even funnier if they fell on Kenren (and he owed Kenren one for the pit).

He could smell Konzen and Tenpou moving closer even as Kenren moved towards them, and there was also a keen energy in their presence thrumming under his skin. It might be divine energy or it might be from a bond between them—Goku would like to believe the later.

Eager though he is to see them, he knows it won't be easy. Kenren had his near-lucid moments, but could go violent without warning and couldn't be reasoned with about anything important. He's aware the other two are equally damaged, and so far his attempts to destroy what  _looked_ wrong with them hadn't worked. But it was at least a place to start.

It would be smartest to take down Tenpou first. He had reeked of danger once he had removed his own restraining metal, and the energy of violence combined with that appearance was maddening. On one level, Goku was happy that Tenpou had retained most of his former deadliness, and more importantly his resistance to dying. But the untidy hair and crawling skin made him look even more alien. The vines, everywhere, they just didn't belong on Tenpou. He needed serious pruning.

Konzen, thankfully, looked the most unchanged, albeit in a body so weak and fragile. Seeing that golden hair had thrown Goku enough to let himself be sent to sleep again twice. For a moment he'd come close to feeling betrayed, but it had been quickly evident that Konzen had no idea what he was doing or who he was doing it to. Another thing to blame Heaven for. Fear that the person who named him might never remember was almost crushing—but seeing his own guts would surely persuade the Jade Emperor to cooperate in undoing what he'd done to Goku's friends.

He needed to find Nataku, too. Settling old scores was less important than that, although it had the potential to be fun. The gods were a threat, and their blood smelled so tempting. The hard part was waiting for his chains to wear off, waiting to become strong enough that it wouldn't end like last time.

He was going to get his family back. And when the gods come, well, Goku would be strong enough for all of them. He wouldn't let anything happen to them. Not ever again.

* * *

_To be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my original plan for the story, it was all going to go to hell at this point. Goku accidentally kills Sanzo and goes further off the deep end, everyone dies, etc. I also considered ending it here to leave the ending ambiguous. But my little sister likes happy endings. So if you like happy endings too, you can thank her for persuading me to write the next chapter. You should also stay tuned for the next chapter if you like Sanzo and Hakkai, because they (finally) show up.


	3. Chapter 3

Gojyo's shoulder blades itched in a way that made him already regret turning his back on the Seiten Taisei. Thus far he had nobly fought off the urge to actually look behind him. Sure, no one would see his spinelessness (except for that creepy frilled lizard that had been staring at him for a while) but it was also a useless waste of energy. The desert trek was already sapping his strength and he just had to be wearing a black coat which attracted heat the way he picked up chicks. Which reminded him of how hot and thirsty he was. He took another swig from his canteen.

A distant sound whistled through the distance. Was the wind or was that a vroom?

No, either the mirages had started or that was the sound of a car motor. Theoretically it could be anyone driving out here, but Gojyo was pretty sure only Hakkai could manage to hit that many bumps in a flat desert. He took off in a run.

By following the unholy noise of rocks being crushed, small animals stampeding for their lives, and monks explicitly blaspheming, he was quickly get within sight of a white jeep. Charging straight towards it, he could soon make out Sanzo in the front, scowling over the dashboard. Hakkai's smile looked even more maniacal than usual, and there was something that looked like a silver coronet on his head.

Moving a little to the side until he was no longer directly in the path of the rampaging jeep, he cupped a hand over his mouth and shouted their names as he ran. "Hakkai! Sanzo! Wait up! I'm talking to you, baldie!"

It wasn't until the first bullet whizzed past his ear that he remembered why his old friends might not immediately recognize him.

Screeching to a halt, he held his hands in the air and shouted, "Wait, stop, it's me, Gojyo, I swear, I can explain!"

Hakkai hit the brakes so hard that Sanzo toppled over the front of the jeep. Gojyo snickered, "Nice one, 'Kai."

Unfortunately, Hakkai didn't seem to be listening. "Now, now, Sanzo, that doesn't look like a yokai, or at the very least not a crazy one. You can relax your trigger finger."

"Hell yes he can! Why is it only when I'm meeting you from this perspective that I realize what total psychopaths we are?"

Hakkai shot him a puzzled look, "And you, err, mister…are you by any chance a relative of a yokai named Dokugakuji?"

"Um, Hakkai? It's me, Gojyo."

Hakkai looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Another copy. And not even a good one. Shoot him, Sanzo."

"This is for looking like the damn kappa who got himself lost in a fucking desert and made me take valuable time to look for him _twice_." Sanzo coolly took aim and fired—right at Gojyo's forehead.

Squawking as he frantically dodged bullets, Gojyo shouted, "Wait, wait, wait! Hakkai, would anyone else know that you hate it when I use cans as ashtrays?"

Sanzo and Hakkai exchanged glances.

"Or what about how the first time I met both of you? Hakkai, you were lying on the road with your guts pouring out. Sanzo, you kneed me in the stomach. Oh, and you both act like bitchy little girls when it rains. That good enough?"

"Well, he's still the idiot who made us detour for him…" Sanzo said, raising his gun again.

"Hey, this time you ditched me! Not my fault." He jumped to the side from habit as the gun went off. At least this time it wasn't aimed to actually hit him. Progress: always slow where Sanzo was concerned.

Hakkai asked, "Gojyo, what _happened_ to you?"

"Gods, I don't know where to begin. First of all, the monkey is still running crazy without the headband. I'm sorry."

"Of all the incompetence…" Sanzo muttered.

"And he's really not going to be as easy to stop this time. Really. He's gone crazy in a new and exciting way—he's the one who dyed my hair, no seriously. And my eyes."

"Your eyes," Hakkai muttered, looking at him with serious apprehension.

"Psh. More easily fixed than his regrettable fashion sense."

"Hey, I kind of like this coat, droopy-eyes!"

"What's that on your forehead?" Sanzo demanded.

"Ah, that. I think it might be some sort of holy mark. Sanzo, do you know what it is?"

Sanzo reloaded his gun in a heartbeat and aimed it straight at his head. "If some fool made you a Sanzo, I swear I'm going to put a bullet through your forehead."

"Hey, hold your fire, Your Holiness! It was your damn monkey that did this!"

"Mmmm, maybe you'd better start at the beginning," Hakkai said.

* * *

Sanzo took a drag of his cigarette. "So in conclusion, you ate some funny desert fruit and spent the last couple days hallucinating instead of getting the monkey's limiter back on. Useless."

"That's not what happened at all! Just because you don't know what's going on doesn't mean you get to pretend you don't think any of it happened!"

Hakkai said, "Sanzo, your explanation fails to justify the obviously unnatural changes in Gojyo's appearance and attire."

"Speaking of which, Hakkai, why are you wearing a crown?"

"Oh, I became the King of a small city-state in this area that has some _interesting_ laws concerning trial by combat. It's really a very dull story compared to what you've been through, I'm sure."

Sanzo tapped on Jeep's dashboard. "There's really only one way to get to the bottom of this, and that's to go to this supposed cave and see for ourselves."

"There's nothing supposed about it, damn it! And haven't you been listening to me? I don't think a full frontal assault will cut it this time!"

"You mean we might have to coordinate our efforts into something resembling teamwork?" Hakkai suggested.

"No, we'd still get our asses handed to us! I'm saying we can't take him on in a straight fight!"

"Ah-ha, then you think we should use our group's other specialty, subterfuge."

There was a long moment. Then they all burst out laughing.

Wiping tears from his eyes, Gojyo said, "Aw, who am I kidding? We'll just charge in the same as always. Jeep, you stay out of the fighting, so that I can throw these two idiots in the backseat and escape once it all goes sour."

Jeep rumbled in agreement.

Sanzo said, "Just so you know, if you manage to get left behind this time, there is no way in hell I am coming back for you."

"Yeah, yeah, heard it before, Sanzo- _sama_. Look, can I borrow some of your bullets for this stupid useless gold revolver?"

"What, your shakujou isn't good enough for you?"

"About that…uh, Hakkai, why don't you really press down on the gas?"

"If you've lost one of the temple's sacred treasures, you goddamn cockroachhhhhhhh-"

"Ah-ha, isn't this fun? Jeep, watch out for that cactus, please."

* * *

Sanzo stormed through the cave entrance, deliberately kicking up dust as he walked. Hakkai followed more sedately, Hakuryu curled around his neck in dragon-form. Gojyo trailed after, muttering, "Sure, let's charge straight in. Not that it will make the slightest difference since the creepy bastard can smell us a mile off. What ever made me think that you two would be any better at subtlety?"

The cave was pretty much as Gojyo remembered it—still the dented furniture, jumbled piles of books, creepy statues toppled over, and broken junk in the cart. The only difference was that the Seiten Taisei was gone.

"Hnn. So I see nothing so far to justify your wild delusions, kappa."

Gojyo waved his arms. "Look at the cave! The books! Look at that stupid desk! Any of this come across as a little creepy to you?"

"Oh, is that a signed edition from Wu Cheng'en?" Hakkai asked. He began to flip through the book in question, and look of absorption on his face. There went Gojyo's only sane man.

The cave wasn't that big—a quick perusal was enough to confirm there was no one but the three of them (plus dragon) inside. Gojyo checked under the blankets and inside the cart just in case, because the Seiten Taisei had a creepy sense of humor.

"Well, you lot are about half an hour too late."

The sudden voice sent Gojyo jumping out of his skin—and crashing backwards into a pile of books, which toppled over as if it had been deliberately placed with only one book on the bottom. Sanzo snickered at his discomfort as he struggled out from under the mess, while Hakkai made vague motions with his hands as if helping while his eyes remained fixed on his precious book.

And perched on top of Goku's cart, sitting on the handle as if it was a boyar, was the Merciful Goddess Kanzeon Bosatsu, in all her silk-bikini glory.

"You gods shouldn't do that. It's bad for us poor mortals' nerves." Gojyo glared as he tried to extract himself without stepping all over the spines of open books.

"Us poor mortals? I wonder about that, Kenren. Mind and body are linked and all that."

"Oh, yes, cryptic divine babble. You're not very original, I already got that nickname from psycho-Goku. Speaking of which, I don't suppose you know what he's up to, and would be willing to lend us a hand with the simian retrieval?"

Sanzo gave her a flat look. "Just point us towards the monkey and we'll take of him. No need for you to do anything."

"Wait a second, Sanzo-sama. If you've been paying attention to anything I've said, you might realize that we could use some help!"

"I'll pay attention when you stop being an idiot, idiot."

"Why you…!"

The merciful goddess laughed, a long deep sound like a dam breaking over a hapless town. In one swift motion she leapt from the top of the cart to land in from of Sanzo, a small white piece of paper fluttering down next to her. "You might want to reconsider your stance, Genjo Sanzo, 31st of China. The Great Sage's power has only ever equaled that of heaven in theory, but now he is rapidly climbing in that direction. Certainly he is far beyond the reach of a handful of fallen deities. Your only hope lies not in your gun but in the small odds he still hears your voice."

Hakkai finally closed his book, and raised his hand slightly. "Excuse me, Miss Goddess? A question? If, as Gojyo conjectured, the Seiten Taisei does in fact become stronger the longer he is left unrestrained, then why did you and the rest of heaven ignore him until now?"

"Ah. Well, you see, I was unavoidably detained by some important business."

"How about, say, the three aspects?"

"Also regrettably distracted. A matter was raised which drew the attention of much of heaven."

Hakkai raised an eyebrow.

"Very important business," Kanzeon repeated, quickly stooping to pick up a flyer which read, "All-Heaven Mahjong Tournament! There can only be one winner!"

The goddess said, "So look. The Seiten Taisei got loose and has invaded heaven for complicated motives involving who locked who in a cave for five hundred years. No one else seems to have much luck dealing with him so I'm willing to give you lot a shot. You have a great winning record with the Seiten Taisei despite generally being outmatched in strength, and if worse comes to worse the world is already doomed. I'm the only way you're going to manage to travel to heaven, so you can either accept my offer or give up."

"Mm. Speaking for myself, I believe you are withholding critical information," Hakkai said.

The Kanzeon Bosatsu raised her hand, and a shimmering purple portal appeared in the air. "There's your entrance, take it or leave it. It will remain for one hour; you have that time to decide."

Sanzo bit out, "I don't need a fucking hour. Get out of my way."

From behind the veil, a deep voice called out, "My lady, where are you? You were supposed to be at the emergency meeting ten minutes ago!"

"I'm coming, Jiroushin, don't get your panties in a bunch. It's not as though I'm missing any actual action." The goddess sauntered through the portal. "Oh, and Kenren, you might try to call your weapon again when the Seiten Taisei isn't around. It's still recovering from the emotional trauma." With that, she disappeared.

"What? You _did_ do something to the temple's treasure, you goddamn cockroach!"

Gojyo edged rapidly towards the portal. "Well, what are we waiting for? We've got a monkey to rescue!"

"Get back here this-"

* * *

The first thing that Gojyo noticed about heaven was that bullets did not follow him through the portal. The next was that he was standing on a wood platform raised over a lily garden. Off to his right was an elaborate metal door carved with flowers. Something about the scene raised a feeling of déjà vu, almost a memory—he'd come here looking for someone. A Sanzo with longer hair, who had bribed him with sake to generate an emergency so he could cut his meeting with his aunt short. But Sanzo didn't have an aunt, and when Gojyo started remembering that he'd also come here for a session of dirty poetry with someone who looked like the Merciful Goddess he told his brain to stop being silly.

Sanzo arrived mere instants later and Hakkai was right behind him. Having crossed through the portal, Sanzo's mood adjusted to serious and he kept his gun trained on the door instead of Gojyo. Hakuryu flew in and landed on Hakkai's shoulder.

"The only noticeable exit appears to be that metal door," Hakkai noted. "Aside from this portal, and we might want to remember where that is even if…oh wait, it's gone."

"Then get a move on," Sanzo said.

The door opened into a long hallway, elaborately decorated with candles, incense, and carvings of animals and people with marks on their foreheads.

"Which way?" Gojyo asked.

"Follow the sound of screaming, idiot," Sanzo advised.

In the faint distance, there was the sound of someone shouting and heavy footsteps. "You're probably right," Gojyo admitted. "Are you coming, Hakkai?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, give me a second. Thank you from stopping me from walking into the wall, Hakuryu."

"Put down that goddamn book. If you're slow I'll leave you behind." With that, Sanzo broke out in a hard walk that had them both scrambling to catch up.

But as they rounded the corner, what they glimpsed approaching was a neat column of soldiers, marching in line as someone in the front shouted orders. On unspoken agreement all three quickly ducked back. Hakkai's book and crown disappeared somewhere in the recesses of his sleeves as he straightened to attention.

"Seeing how we aren't looking for confrontation with these individuals, we might avoid them?" Hakkai suggested. Sanzo grunted his agreement.

Unfortunately, they were a little too slow. As they retreated around the last corner, someone shouted, "Halt and be identified!"

The ironic part was, it was usually very hard to get Sanzo to run away from anything. But telling him to "halt" was like shoving a stick into the wrong end of a mule. No one told Sanzo to do anything.

"Does anyone know where we're going?" Gojyo panted as he ran.

"Regrettably, no. But then, we didn't know where we were to begin with, so we can't get lost," Hakkai said.

"I was worried about the dead end straight ahead," Gojyo admitted as they came to a crashing halt in front of a vase of flowers sitting on an end table, decoratively sprucing up the hallway that went absolutely nowhere.

Hakkai said, "Look at that tile pattern on the wall! I do believe that's an example of Verdang's secret door. Do you think we have time to solve the puzzle?"

"Maybe if you're very fast," Sanzo suggested sarcastically. The pounding of boots announced the entire horde bearing down on them.

Gojyo lifted his unfamiliar revolver in his hand. "Got any advice besides point and shoot, oh gun-master?"

"Try not to shoot your own foot, kappa."

The soldiers bore down on them at a speed best suited for trampling, then stopped a few feet away, raising spears as a barrier to easy escape. Gojyo held back, unwilling to fire first given that they were intruders and they might be able to talk their way out using the Merciful Goddess' name.

The uniformed man at the front of the column said, "You have five seconds to identify yourselves before—oh, General Kenren, I didn't recognize you."

"Hi?" Gojyo said uncertainly.

"I suppose it would take something as batshit insane as this mess for them to rescind your banishment. Were you trying to sneak into the meeting late again?" He winked at Gojyo.

"Is that a human?" Someone behind him asked loudly. "And a _yokai_?"

"They must have let you bring along some servants. Try not to flaunt your conquests in front of the whole court; they already don't like you very much."

Gojyo expected the only thing saving this situation from erupting into bloodshed was that Sanzo was temporarily frozen while his brain tried to decide whether being called Gojyo's "servant" or a "conquest" was the worst insult. Gojyo put on his best bluff face and nodded in what he hoped was a commanding manner, worried that if he opened his mouth he'd ruin it due to not having the same voice as this Kenren person.

"Good to see you again, general. Watch out for the spike trap, it's new. Men, about march!"

The retreat was as efficient as the chase had been. Within minutes they were alone in the hallway.

"What just happened there?" Sanzo demanded.

There was a loud click, and the flower vase dropped straight into the ground. A long metal spear shot from the hole and embedded harmlessly in the ceiling. With a creaking noise, the wall began to rise, to reveal a long flight of stairs.

Hakkai said, "I solved the puzzle."

* * *

They still had no idea which way to go, but a secret door rather begged to be investigated. Particularly since Sanzo suspected that if there was an "important meeting" going on at the other end, then Kanzeon Bosatsu might be there, and he could give her a piece of his mind. (And ask her for directions, Hakkai cheerfully added.)

The fact that this involved climbing a shit-load of stairs was something that the great Sanzo-sama might not have counted on. He'd never really gotten a decent break after the desert, but no way Gojyo was going to collapse of exhaustion before the other two, and so they kept going.

At the top of the stairs was a short hallway, then a massive iron door with pair of regally dressed guards in front. "Watching a secret passage? Seems unnecessary," Gojyo commented.

"It also wasn't very effective," said Hakkai, walking over and checking the motionless bodies for any sign of life. It took no more than a glance to see this was futile, because nothing could be alive once the heart had been removed.

"Something's ripped the lock clean off the door," Sanzo commented as he approached, hand tight on his gun.

There was no real need to kick the door in because it had a person-sized hole already, as Hakkai pointed out, but Sanzo did it anyway.

The scene inside was one of total carnage. A wide room opened into a long oval table, and each of the figures around it lay sprawled over the table in some bloody manner. A few had made it away from their seats, but most had died sitting, indicating that either it had happened very fast or they hadn't put up much of a fight. Despite a few missing heads, on many faces Gojyo was deeply unnerved to see a mark identical to the one now on his forehead.

The doors on the other end of the room were littered with guards sprawled over the metal wreckage, indicating that they at least had fought back.

And at the far end of the room, sitting on a magnificent jade throne, was a dead man in a white robe, sprawled gaping with his intestines hanging out of his body.

An odd memory twisted through Gojyo, of kneeling before this throne while trying to hide his snicker at something Tenpou had said, but the man's face had been different, and when he blinked the vision was gone.

"Nothing here is alive," Hakkai said softly.

"You don't think this was done by…?" Gojyo asked.

"This is none of our concern. We should focus on finding Goku," Sanzo snapped.

Gojyo didn't reply, but he thought he might have more reason than the rest to be able to see the truth behind this situation. The Seiten Taisei had told him that it wanted the gods dead. The creature hadn't struck him as being the type to bluff.

"Scared, kappa?" Sanzo demanded.

"Of dying with _you_? Definitely." Gojyo drew his revolver. "Luckily that isn't happening. Let's go, we have a monkey to catch."

It was hard to avoid stepping in blood as they moved out of the broken doors, but it wouldn't be the first time they'd kept journeying while stepping over corpses, and likely wouldn't be the last.

* * *

"Are you sure you will be alright, not joining the Emperor inside his safe house?" Jiroushin asked.

Kanzeon Bosatsu shrugged his/her shoulders. "They're all fools. Safe is likely to be far far away from the man who's first order upon ascending the throne was to execute Konzen, Kenren, and Tenpou."

"Who, by the way, were supposed to be banished from heaven no matter how many times they reincarnated. Are you quite certain that they're going to make this situation better?"

"Little in life is a certainty. That is what makes it interesting to live, particularly when those three are around."

Jiroushin raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not doing this just because the Jade Emperor ordered you to lose the mahjong finals to him?"

"I'm the goddess of mercy, Jiroushin. That means I only do what strikes me as most entertaining at any given moment."

"You might be missing the definition of mercy, my lady."

"Fool. It's the mortals who have it wrong. Mercy is the gift of life, and there's nothing gentle or kind about that."

* * *

They set off following a trail of red stains and the occasional property damage, down a hallway that was a little too narrow for Jeep to fit (and yes, Hakkai would have cheerfully driven around indoors if given the opportunity.) Once they'd heard the sound of shouting behind them, and Sanzo had started walking faster in a not-running sort of way and the other two had followed suit.

Hakkai had speculated aloud that the scene inside must be relatively new and was only just being discovered. He had also commented that at the moment, with blood on their clothes, they might look like killers, ha-ha.

Hakkai liked tempting fate a little too much. Gojyo was fairly sure that it was either him or the Merciful Goddess who had arranged for them to pass by an open window at the same time an entire army of guards walked by. Sanzo hadn't exactly made things any better by flipping a cigarette butt out the window just in time to land on someone's head.

"You know, they'd have already caught us if they'd come through the window. Going around for a side door clearly took up too much time," Hakkai said as they bolted down the corridor at top speed.

"We're losing the trail," Sanzo complained.

"Well, why don't you go back and politely ask them not to trample on our evidence, Sanzo-sama?"

"Your open mouth makes you run slower, kappa."

"The same thing is true for you!"

"Oh look, they seem to have gotten in front of us as well," Hakkai said, stepping aside with a bright smile so that Sanzo and Gojyo sped past him straight into the arms of the waiting heavenly army. Sanzo managed to stop himself in time by using Gojyo's body as a springboard. Gojyo fell flat on his face.

"Halt in the name of the Jade Emperor! We demand that you submit peacefully to arrest and hand over the baby dragon you've taken hostage! Any deviation from our orders will justify extreme force!"

Gojyo quickly scrambled to his feet, and when his shakujou still wouldn't return to his hand, he fumbled loose the golden revolver.

He was almost eye to eye with the leader of the procession, a wide soft-cheeked man with a divine mark on his forehead wearing a white uniform, who sneered at him and said, "Someone seize this—uh…Kenren?"

"Um," Gojyo said, preparing himself to duck a thousand spears.

"G-g-general Kenren, it's been a long time. I just want you to know that I had nothing to do with that attack on you from behind in the courtyard. In fact, I had nothing to do with any attacks, I was away at the time. Visiting my family. Because I have the highest respect for the Western Army and its General. I think you should be aware that whatever our differences, I never said anything about you to your face-" the god seemed to realize that the soldiers on either side of him had beat a hasty retreat, "And I can see you have this situation under control! I have pressing business elsewhere!"

At the sight of their commander shoving them aside in his haste to leave, the retreat quickly became a flat-out race.

Hakkai said, "Well, that was convenient. Shall we should back-track a little and see if we can pick up Goku's trail?"

Sanzo demanded again, "What just happened?"

Gojyo held up his hands. "I have no idea! Honest!"

"Clearly someone who looks like Gojyo is a person of familiarity here. Or someone who looks like the person the Seiten Taisei chose to disguise him as is. Perhaps someone that Kanzeon Bosatsu also has met, since she's used that name as well."

"General of the Western Army, huh?" Gojyo said.

"Yeah, if you're a general, I'm a paper-loving bureaucrat," Sanzo sneered.

* * *

"Get out of my way! Move it, I order you to hold him off, aren't you listening to me? Don't just run away and leave me behind, I come from a very noble lineage!"

* * *

"Eeiiiiiiiii! Run for your lives!"

* * *

"Idiot, that's General Kenren and there are only seven of us!"

* * *

"He's come back from the dead and he's looking for revenge! They must have unsealed him with Gyumaoh!"

* * *

"He spotted us! Run!"

* * *

After the fifth such encounter, all of their ears were ringing from the constant shouting. When a particularly stupid soldier kicked Sanzo in his haste to get away, the irritable priest emptied an entire chamber of bullets after him and his comrades. It did not seem to improve his temper that the escapees seemed convinced that it was General Kenren who was attacking them.

Hakkai commented, "I don't think it's a good idea to provoke heavily armed men when they're running away. In addition to the ethical quandary of firing on retreating people."

"Hnn," said Sanzo, which in Sanzo-speak meant, "Fool, if I wanted to hit them they'd be already dead."

Their path was much swifter with someone running ahead of them shouting, "He's coming! Run for your lives!" But Sanzo at least didn't seem to appreciate the lack of resistance, judging from the way he was grinding his teeth. If he didn't get to shoot something soon he might turn his gun on Gojyo.

Even Hakkai started to look miffed when someone in a white robe almost trampled him in their efforts to get away from Gojyo. When one of the cries became "Make way for Kenren's party!" Gojyo began to seriously fear for his life.

"As soon as we're done here, you're getting that damn mark removed from your head," Sanzo ordered.

"Aw, does someone not like no longer being the most popular girl at the dance? Since we're all aware that strange men trying to kill you is the only adrenaline rush you ever get…"

"So help me, one more word out of you and I'll see if you make a more effective shield with your mouth sealed-"

Hakkai interrupted, "Excuse me, but does anyone else hear that?"

There was a crashing sound ahead. It was followed by a familiar scream they recognized as a certain not-yokai's version of laughter.

They all broke out into a flat run.

Their pursuit led them to a battered segment of hallway where the building had been completely ripped in two. Entering the broken room through a smashed wall, they emerged into a broad rectangular space. In the center, sitting on a raised platform, was a boy dressed in a long white robe, his hair pulled back in a bun, his eyes wide and vacant as he slumped over the arms of his chair. The image struck Gojyo even stronger this time: he could see the boy a whirling motion of violence fighting enormous beasts, tossing aside armed soldiers, as he _drove his sword into his own shoulder, Goku was crying and in the end I couldn't do anything for either of them…_

The disorientation was his only excuse for not reacting first to the obvious: the Seiten Taisei raising a clawed hand to slash down at the Merciful Goddess.

The goddess ducked backwards, and kicked him in the stomach with a strength belying her bare feet. The Seiten Taisei recovered quickly, and circled her, growling.

When he finally lunged, she was ready. In a swift movement she flipped him over her shoulder, and planted a hand on his forehead when he landed on the ground. A golden diadem formed around his forehead.

The Seiten Taisei ripped off the limiter in one swift motion, and clamped his teeth down on her outstretched arm.

Yowling in pain, Kanzeon recoiled. After slamming Goku into the floor, the wall, a stray chair, and finally straight through the ceiling, she finally managed to shake him loose, albeit not without losing a fair bit of blood and half her shirt in the process. The Seiten Taisei remained embedded in the ceiling with his head sticking through the roof.

Gojyo asked, "Is it wrong that the whole time crazy Goku was chomping on her arm, I had no desire to help the god lady whatsoever?"

Hakkai said, "I had this odd feeling of déjà vu, as if I was looking at someone who had watched me fight over and over again and never really done anything to help, and to interfere would be disrupting the natural cycle of karma."

Sanzo took a drag of his cigarette. "Hnn." Which in Sanzo-speak meant, "What Hakkai said."

Kanzeon Bosatsu called, "All of you suck!"

"I could have told you the diadem might not work anymore," Gojyo added for good measure.

"That one should have. That was pure divine power…" Gojyo was a bit concerned to see the Merciful Goddess look unnerved. Then she grinned with her usual bitchiness and said, "Well, let's see you take a shot at it."

Unfortunately for her, the Seiten Taisei wasn't taking cues from her dramatic narration. He dropped from the ceiling and jumped onto her back, tearing off a decent-sized chunk of her ponytail.

"Ouch! Look, you damn monkey, it's Konzen! He has nicer hair than me! Fetch!"

Unfortunately, it worked. The monkey got a good look at Sanzo and punted Kanzeon Bosatsu across the room like she was yesterday's trash. Then he pounced.

Gojyo fired off two shots and Hakkai hit him with a blast of chi. The hideous part was that he didn't duck or block their attacks. He simply took the blows and kept coming. With blood seeping out his arm and shoulder, his entire right side smoking, he landed squarely on Sanzo's chest, slamming the monk into the floor. Even as his skin healed over, his clothes continued to drip with spilt blood and exude a sickening stench of burning.

The monk didn't move, didn't call up his sutra. Gojyo couldn't explain it—it wasn't as though Sanzo had any qualms about firing bullets at Goku. He shot at them both for the crime of being noisy on a daily basis. Instinctively, Gojyo refrained from attacking as well.

He would shot again if Sanzo was in danger, of course. But at the moment, the Seiten Taisei was looping a clawed finger around Sanzo's hair. As he tugged on it, it grew in length, falling around Sanzo's face in waves. The Seiten Taisei raised a lock of hair to his face and sniffed deeply.

In a harsh voice, Sanzo said, "I know you're not crazy like last time. I can see it in your eyes. So get up and get the hell off of me. We have a mission to complete and I won't indulge you any more than this. One field trip each to cope with your tragic past is all I'm tolerating from the three of you, and all three are officially over!"

Crazy-Goku reared back as if he'd been slapped.

Sanzo looked him in the eye, still not moving. "If the kappa was right about something for once, and you don't remember anything, then you don't need to. Just follow me."

"Ah…" the Seiten Taisei seemed to have lost human speech again. His clawed hands pulled away.

In a swift jerk of his head, he swiveled around to look at Kanzeon Bosatsu. "Give him back his memories. You took mine away, so you must have been the one who made them forget. Give them all back, right now!"

The Merciful Goddess was scrambling to her feet on the other side of the room, where the wall had a new hole in it. She looked awful—her hair had been ripped off one side of her head and the other was drenched in blood, one of her arms was hanging a little funny, and she seemed to be supporting herself on one foot. Gojyo threw himself across the room towards her, and put an arm under her waist to help her stand up. (Hakkai, he noticed, hadn't moved. He'd made the tactical decision to keep his chi trained on the Seiten Taisei, and Gojyo couldn't blame him for it.)

She said, "I can't do that, Goku. Reincarnation is a little more complicated than what happened to you. If I forced it, the odds are good I'd create two personalities. Or drive them insane."

"Liar. You can do it. You always lie, don't you? Lied to Konzen to make him take me, didn't tell him what I really was. Did you want me to kill him? Or maybe he was your sacrifice. The last village tried to sacrifice a girl to me. They didn't even know why they worshipped me, feared me, but do you? If you did I don't think you would have dared touch what's mine."

"You're the one who's hurting him." There was an edge of tension in Kanzeon's voice, and Gojyo was horrified to realize that at some point during the conversation the Seiten Taisei had wrapped one hand around Sanzo's throat and begun strangling him. Seemingly without even noticing.

Hakkai fired one burst of chi after another, but even when Goku's arm briefly turned into a charred bone his grip didn't budge. When Gojyo tried to leap to help, suddenly it was Kanzeon holding him back, her injured arm unexpectedly strong. Giving up on his attacks, Hakkai shoved a frantic Hakuryu behind him ripped off his limiters, launching his entire body and accompanying vines at the Seiten Taisei.

Kanzeon screamed, "You can't go near him, touching a living thing will make him worse!" But it was too late to reverse a leap in mid-air.

The Seiten Taisei reached out one arm and batted Hakkai away, as his other arm latched onto a vine, then tugged. Hakkai screamed as the vine ripped loose from his flesh. The Seiten Taisei examined the vine with curiosity, and began plucking leaves.

The moment his throat was free gave Sanzo time to react. This time, he called forth the sutra, and it wrapped around Goku.

Gojyo only wished he was surprised when the sutra caught flames. He was genuinely surprised when Sanzo screamed as if he was burning as well.

This was no time to be chivalrous, so Gojyo drove a foot into the Merciful Goddess' bleeding leg injury, then leapt to help Hakkai beat at the flames. Hakuryu frantically flapped his wings on top of the blaze, whimpering in pain.

Kanzeon Bosatsu shouted, "You have to stop, Goku! This isn't like Kenren's weapon—if you destroy the sutra it will take a piece of him with it! Never mind what it will do to the entire lower world; he'll be the first to die. I know why you want to destroy it! You're the gods' opposite, and everything we created you _need_ to destroy. But do you know what that means? You're going to kill all of them! Even though you don't want to! You have to let me seal that power again!"

The flames subsided. The Seiten Taisei muttered. "That's not true. It's all your fault."

The Merciful Goddess managed something resembling a smile. "You're correct on the second point. It is the first Jade Emperor's fault you exist as what you are instead of what you should have been, and the rest of us are to blame for standing idle. But so be it. What are you going to do, whine about it?"

Sanzo croaked, "Like hell. I don't care whose fault it is." He raised a hand, palm-up, to the beast crouched over him. "I'm not sticking around here. I just need to know if you're coming with me or not."

Kanzeon Bosatsu called, "Tough words, from the one who followed him all the way to heaven and seems very unwilling to lower his hand."

"Shut up, hag."

Sanzo's hand remained upraised. In a slow, deliberate motion, the Seiten Taisei lowered his forehead onto that hand.

There was a flash of light, and the golden diadem formed around Goku's forehead.

In a small, weak voice, Goku said, "Sanzo, I feel funny. Really funny. And I tried to strangle you. I didn't forget about it, this time…I'm really really really sorry about that. Really. Are you okay?"

Sanzo stared flatly. "Do I look okay, idiot?"

"Um, is the answer yes because you're tough, or no because I'm stupid?"

"The correct answer is the part where you finally get your worthless carcass off me!" With one fierce whack, Sanzo's fan impacted with Goku's head.

"Sorry!" Goku scrambled off of Sanzo and onto his feet. With one hand, he grabbed onto Sanzo's arm and pulled him to his feet—then fastened his hand on the sleeve of his robe.

"Let go," Sanzo demanded, shaking his arm.

"Sorry. Just let me hold on a little longer, please?"

Sanzo said, "Hnn," which meant "Somewhere deep in my black shriveled raisin of a heart I actually care." (Sanzo-speak, as officially translated by Sha Gojyo.) He then proceeded to look everywhere except at Goku's hand, which officially no longer existed in Sanzo-vision.

Sanzo stooped to gather bits of the Maten Sutra. The damage to the sutra appeared to be repairing itself on its own—it was rather creepy watching broken off bits scuttle across the ground to reattach themselves. Gojyo was about to make a smart remark about how other people couldn't look after their sacred treasures either, but he watched the way Sanzo twitched as if pricked by a needle when each piece reformed, and decided not to say anything. No need to get himself hit by a fan.

Hakkai said to Kanzeon Bosatsu, "All's well that ends well, no doubt. Can we trouble you for another portal out of here? I would hate to take up any more of your time." He had managed to get his limiters back on and was already busy healing Hakuryu's wings, which looked like the worst injury of the four of them. Gojyo himself had wrapped his hands in strips of coat before going at the fire so they were only mildly singed. The damage to the coat was an absolute tragedy.

The goddess shrugged. "Meh. There you go." A wave of her hand, and a portal appeared. "Before you go, a bit of wisdom to share. The bad news is, everything in heaven is going to want to kill you. The good news is, they might be too scared to come near you. Which won't stop them from trying to get at you by sneaky means, so watch your back."

Sanzo snapped, "They need us to get rid of Gyumaoh, right? As long as we're doing their dirty work they can't complain."

"That's a qualification with a time limit, sweetie. Once you're done I wouldn't put it past them to find someone to eliminate _you_. But I suppose you're relatively safe in the short term. I should also mention that the brat over there still has some rather funny energy in his aura. I would say the seal isn't doing quite the same thing it used to."

Goku said, "I accepted it willingly this time. It's working with my energy instead of against it. And I remember everything. It's all hazy, but it's all there." He did not look overwhelmingly happy about this, but Gojyo couldn't blame him given what he suspected those memories consisted of. Five hundred years in a cave. And lots of killing people. At least the kid was holding it together.

"Don't suppose you can fix this mess?" Gojyo asked, waving his hands. After all, the Seiten Taisei had been able to heal before…

"Possibly," Goku said. Sure enough, Hakkai was able to stop healing Hakuryu when the dragon's wings knitted together on their own. Gojyo's hands stopped aching, and he was rather pleased to see that the leather duster (he liked it, whatever Sanzo might say) was no longer ripped. He wondered if the monkey had forgotten to shorten Sanzo's hair or if he just liked it that way.

Speaking of which… "Goku, could you do the same trick on this black dye?" He tugged at his wrong-colored hair.

Goku looked at his feet. "Maybe. Those memories get, um, hazy, and it's not exactly wrong for you so it might not fix, but I could try."

"Let me do it," Kanzeon Bosatsu offered. The Merciful Goddess was back to her pristine self as well, so whatever she had done in the past must not have gotten too much on Goku's bad side.

Gojyo asked, "Whatever you intend to do, is that going to wipe away the things I've been remembering as well?" He hadn't forgotten that she was apparently the one who sealed Goku's memories.

"It might be a package deal. Trust me, you're better off without the old baggage in your head."

"I'll be the judge of that," Gojyo said. "And I don't let anyone mess around the inside of my head, thanks."

The goddess laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

Behind her, the broken wall began to repair itself, crumbling upwards out of the dust. It was rather impressive given that Goku didn't even seem to be paying attention. That power could be useful, or dangerous.

"Pity you can't actually bring people back from the dead or anything," the Goddess said. "While I suspect offing most of the Emperor's faction means his rivals will take control, they'll probably feel the need to do something about his demise no matter how little they actually care. I think once I point out that they can't actually seal you anymore, survival will precede pride and they'll find another story to tell which leaves you out of it. But I'd still get out of here right now. Only a matter of time before someone finds their courage or finds someone low-ranking enough to send in here."

"What about Nataku?" Goku pointed at the kid in the chair, who still had the same dead-fish expression on his face.

Kanzeon Bosatsu looked surprised. "No one has paid any attention to him before now, and I don't think that will have any reason to change. He's safe enough here."

Goku said, in a small but firm voice, "No. He's coming with us."

The look Kanzeon gave him was almost pitying, from someone who had little acquaintance with that emotion. "It's his own choice that keeps him here."

"You had your chance to persuade him to wake up. Give me my turn."

The Merciful Goddess raised a hand to her chin and considered. "Well, I suppose the gods can't want to kill you any deader than they already do. Go ahead."

Sanzo said, "Just to clarify, if you want to bring along dead weight, you carry it." He set his shoulders and turned his back, marching forward towards the portal—slowly.

Hakuryu helpfully turned back into a jeep, and Sanzo planted himself in the passenger seat. Hakkai got behind the driver's wheel sluggishly enough to buy Sanzo more time to most definitely not wait for them.

Goku walked over to the kid in the chair and raised a hand towards him, seeming unwilling to touch. Gojyo said gruffly, "Let me."

Together, they managed to lift him into the back seat of Jeep. It was a bit of a squeeze with three in the back, but Gojyo would almost swear that Jeep widened his seats a little to accommodate.

They dove straight through the portal and hit the desert on the other side at full speed, thanks to Hakkai's insane driving. At least one cactus died a tragic and pointless death before Jeep managed to find the road again.

In the backseat, Gojyo tried calling his shakujou again and was pleased that it responded. It was still a tad dented and had a tendency to tremble when waved too close to Goku, but that could be dealt with later. He'd never quite gotten the hang the revolver, and besides, he might want to pawn the gold at some point.

Goku poked at the skull fastener on his coat. "I really like that. It looks cool."

"Finally, someone who appreciates fashion! Yes, I'm keeping that. Hakkai, you can sell off all my old outfits—and don't even mention that clown costume."

Goku added, "Seriously, Gojyo, I will try to find a way to fix your hair. Although, would you mind waiting until the next time we run into Kougaiji and the others? I really want to see how they react!"

"Huh, well on closer examination I've concluded that I look gorgeous no matter what, so it really doesn't matter."

"Funny, your reflection makes me feel nauseous."

"Sanzo-sama, have I mentioned that you also look lovely with your long wavy locks of flowing hair? The perfect complement to that damsel-in-distress thing you have going."

A bullet was fired. Hakkai called, "Sanzo, please don't try to cut your hair off by shooting it. You'd have to empty several cartridges before you'd make any progress. I have a pair of scissors in the dashboard, if you'll just give me a minute."

"Hakkai, we're going off the side of the road!"

"Ooh, is that a meat bun in there? Can I have it?"

"I think I deserve the meat bun, monkey. I've had the lousiest day here."

"You've had the worst day? You were useless this whole time, kappa!"

"Yeah, unlike a certain monk who went down with one hit and was strangled with his own magic scarf…Hakkai, watch it with the scissors!"

"Ha ha, sorry about that. You know, I've been thinking about applications of the Seiten Taisei's abilities, and in the right circumstances hair growth could prove most incapacitating on enemies."

"Hakkai! That's a cliff! Look out!"

* * *

Much later that night, when they had all eaten and squabbled to their hearts' content, they let the fire become embers and laid out blankets across the ground. They didn't have a tent—normally they would have found an inn, but Hakkai had mentioned that in the nearest town forward he and Sanzo "might be a tad unwelcome" and Goku had mentioned that the people in the town behind "might think I'm a god, but maybe we shouldn't go back in case I can't awe them anymore and they want all their stuff back." And so tonight they were sleeping under the stars.

Hakkai had found a spare blanket for Nataku, who remained rigidly in a sitting position despite efforts to lie him down. Goku placed a meat bun down next to him in case he woke up in the night and was hungry, because, "I don't think he's eaten in 500 years either."

Gojyo remained awake, sitting by the fire's embers and smoking. It wasn't that he had insomnia so much as that he wasn't ready to sleep. Images kept dancing through his mind, and he was determined to hold on to them for as long as they lasted. He might remember something useful. In the past five minutes alone he had remembered two poems and gotten a better grasp of how to fire a long gun, along with some stuff about commanding armies that he wasn't likely to ever use but might impress the ladies in a bar.

The night was peaceful enough, and he'd always liked to view the stars from this realm. In heaven it just wasn't the same—they never moved and didn't have interesting names.

To his right, there was a slight noise of cloth rustling. He turned his head to see Nataku stir, and open his eyes.

In a moment he'd shout, wake Goku up, see if he could help Hakkai find any other leftover food, and act as a scapegoat to distract Sanzo from taking out his crankiness on the newcomer. But first he stubbed out his cigarette and held out his hand.

"Welcome to the world, kid. It's going to be fun."

* * *

_The End (for real.)_

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: If this story so far has confused you, remember these three things: 1) Goku is finally tapping into his full power as the child of the earth, which was always suppressed by his diadem and the manacles forged by the heavenly gods, and has now gone unrestrained for the longest period ever since he was born. 2) Goku remembers his life in Heaven, and remembers Konzen, Tenpou, and Kenren, but does not remember anything starting from Sanzo coming to free him from his imprisonment. 3) Goku is completely insane.


End file.
